■ Telecoms
New phone for China market
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of cellular phones, said it will debut a new phone in China in the third quarter and introduce its so-called push-to- talk mobile service in the country this year. Motorola will introduce a phone that works on both the GSM and CDMA standards, using China Unicom Ltd and Verizon Communications as launch customers, said company president Mike Zafirovski. Also this year, China may become the 19th country in which Motorola sells its mobile service that allows users to talk at the push of a button rather than dialing a number. "The Global Phone will have high-tier capabilities, mostly geared toward the traveling business executive," Zafirovski told reporters in Beijing. "We'll be able to increase our market share here because we're one of the few players that actually have push-to-talk handsets."
■ Automobiles
New Chinese rules coming
China's long-awaited blueprint for the develop-ment of its auto industry, expected to be launched within days, will ease some planned restrictions for foreign vehicle manufac-turers while erecting others, state press said yesterday. As part of the new policy, the government would raise barriers to entry to one of China's fastest growing industries by insisting new projects must have a minimum investment of 2 billion yuan (US$240 mil-lion), the China Daily said. However, some measures previously included in the draft policy -- such as banning manufacturers from selling imported and domestically-made cars through the same channels -- have been dropped after protests from multina-tionals. Foreign branded cars made through joint ventures currently account for 90 percent of passenger car sales in China.
■ Aviation
Valuair seeking investors
Singapore's first budget airline, Valuair, is on the lookout for new investors as it beefs up its fledgling route network, a spokesman said yesterday. The company is also hopeful it will soon be able to secure landing rights in Jakarta, resolving an administrative dispute with Indonesian aviation authorities, spokesman Nilesh Pritam said. The dispute prevented the planned launch of Valuair's service to Jakarta earlier this month. Ticket sales on the route have been suspended. Valuair began operating May 1 and serves Bangkok and Hong Kong from Singapore. Nilesh said Valuair wants to add more routes by the end of the year, but did not name the planned destinations. "We're looking to fly to high density destinations that are about five hours away. We would like to fly to a few more by end of the year,"Pritam said. Valuair's first round of fund-raising raised S$33 million (US$19.4 million).
■ Automobiles
Fiat chairman dies
Fiat chairman Umberto Agnelli, who helped lead his family's vast Turin-based automaker out of hard
times and into better financial shape, has died of cancer little more than a year after taking the com-pany's top position, a Fiat spokesman said yesterday. He was 69. He died late Thursday, Fiat spokesman Raffaello Porro said. The company acknowledged that Agnelli was undergoing serious treatment for cancer last month. Agnelli, who was long sidelined in his family's auto empire, got his chance to take over after his elder brother Giovanni Agnelli died in January last year.
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
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the