■ Electronics
Philips to expand in Asia
Electronics giant Philips is looking to Asia for 33 percent of its global revenues by 2008, with most of the growth from China and India, a top executive said in a published interview yesterday. Asia currently contributes 25 percent of the gross global revenues of S$59.2 billion (US$34.8 billion), Andreas Wente, president and chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific region, told The Business Times. "We have 66,000 people across the Asia-Pacific on our rolls," Wente said, "including 16,000 in China, 4,600 in India, 4,100 in Singapore, 4,000 in Thailand and 5,300 in the Philippines." Philips decided to move its regional headquarters from Singapore to Hong Kong last year.
■ Banking
UFJ Holdings loss expected
Japanese megabank UFJ Holdings Inc is expected to write down more loans than earlier expected and is likely to see a massive loss for the year to March, a report said yesterday. UFJ Holdings president Takeshi Sugihara, among other top executives of the banking group, was likely step down to take responsibility for the loss, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. In late April, UFJ Holdings cut its net profit forecast by 62.9 percent to ¥78 billion (US$681.8 million) for the year to March due to higher-than-expected costs of writing off unrecoverable bad loans. But it has decided to lift loan loss provisions after the government and the firm's auditors pointed to the need to do so, the Yomiuri said.
■ Industry
Siemens to expand in China
German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said yesterday it plans to pump another 1 billion euros into China as it moves to take advantage of growth opportunities in the world's fastest growing economy. The company, which has already invested more than 5.4 billion euros in China in a range of joint ventures such as mobile handsets, energy and transport, plans to double its number of regional offices to 60 from 28. The move is part of its plan to ramp up China sales from 4 billion euros last year. "We see good chances of doubling today's sales volume in the next three to five years," Siemens chief executive Heinrich von Pierer said in a statement marking the company's 100th anniversary in China. The group's mobile phone unit, IC Mobile, plans to increase mobile handset production at its Shanghai base to 20 million units annually this year from 14 million last year, the statement said.
■ Capital
Japanese firms spend more
Japanese manufacturers plan to increase their capital spending by 10.1 percent in the year to March next year, marking the first double-digit growth in nine years, a survey showed yesterday. The survey also showed that capital outlays in all industries would likely rise 5.5 percent this fiscal year, exceeding the 2.8 percent growth estimate for fiscal 2003, which saw the first spending increase in three years, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The newspaper survey covered 1,782 firms that had drawn up capital investment plans through Saturday. Enthusiasm about capital investment remains strong among Japanese businesses, especially manufacturers, although some economic data such as machinery orders indicates a slowdown in spending around this autumn or later, the poll said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2