■ Airlines
Dragonair to lease six A330s
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd, which flies between China and its base in Hong Kong, said it plans to lease six Airbus SAS A330 aircraft, as it expands its fleet after Asia's business and leisure traveling recovered from last year's SARS outbreak. "All of the six are firm orders. It's normal to grow our fleet as our expansion continues," said DragonAir's chief executive Stanley Hui, at a conference in conjunction with the Asian Aerospace 2004 exhibition in Singapore. DragonAir will take delivery of three of the aircraft next year, and the remaining three in 2006, Hui said.
■ Fiscal Policy
China may raise rates
China may raise local-currency interest rates for the first time in more than a decade as all other attempts to curb growth in consumer prices and investment have failed, state media reported yesterday. The government needs to adjust its interest rate policy to deal with the possibility of an overheating economy and rising inflation, leading local economists said according to the China Daily. The economists' call came after central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the government would give top priority to curbing inflation this year. "The central bank will use various instruments to adjust credit growth," Zhou said according to the paper.
■ Tourism Industry
Armani to open resorts
Giorgio Armani, the Italian fashion company, signed an agreement Sunday with a United Arab Emirates-based company Emaar Properties to open 14 luxury hotels and resorts around the world. Armani and Emaar agreed to open 10 hotels and four resorts within seven years in cities including Dubai, London, Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai with an estimated total investment of more than US$1 billion dollars, Emaar said in a statement. Emaar, based in Dubai, is the largest real estate development company in the Gulf. In Dubai, the hotel will include 250 suites, restaurants and a spa covering more than 40,000m2 and located at Emaar Properties' new Burj Dubai development, the world's tallest residential and commercial building. Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates and a commercial hub of the region.
■ Plastics
Toray, BASF in joint venture
Toray Industries and German chemical maker BASF AG plan to set up a joint venture to produce a kind of plastic used in cars and electronic components, the Japanese textile and plastic manufacturer said yesterday. In a deal to be announced later this week, the two companies are working on setting up a joint venture company in Malaysia to manufacture polybutylene terephthalate, or PBT, a high-performance engineering plastic, the company official said. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday that Toray and BASF will likely spend around ?5 billion (US$46 million) to build the facility. Annual output may rise from an initial 54,420 tonnes to 90,7000 tonnes, the report said. Because of its wide applications, heat-resistance and other advantages, demand for PBT has been growing in Asia. Toray produces 24,000 tons of PBT a year at its Ehime plant in western Japan. The latest alliance will mark Toray's first overseas manufacturing base for PBT.
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source