■ Economy
Moody's upbeat on Japan
Moody's Investors Service said yesterday that its rating outlook for Japanese com-panies is generally positive on expectations that their credit quality will continue to improve for the time being. "Signs of improving credit quality ... support a favorable rating outlook for the Japanese corporate sector," the credit rating agency said in a report. "The holes that existed in corporate balance sheets have largely been filled through restructurings, debt forgiveness and a highly supportive monetary policy," the agency said, adding that it expects credit quality and credit ratings to con-tinue to improve. Average earnings coverage of in-terest charges has increased four-fold to almost nine times from two times in 1995, according to a Moody's survey of the largest 1,000 companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
■ Internet
S Korean portal buys Lycos
South Korea's top Internet portal, Daum Communica-tions Corp, said yesterday it has acquired the US portal business of Spain's Terra Lycos. Daum said it has acquired all of Lycos' opera-tions for 111.2 billion won (US$95.3 million). The deal will be financed by Daum's cash reserves and bonds, it said. Daum said it aims to become a global leader in the sector by combining Lycos' brand and Daum's business know-how. Daum expects the NASDAQ-listed Internet portal to turn profitable by next year on the back of strong growth in the US advertising market. Lycos has been buffeted by heavy losses since 1999. Daum president Lee Jae-Woong, however, said Lycos, the seventh-most visited Web site in the US, would help his firm secure a foothold in the rapidly growing US Internet market.
■ Financing
GE unit buys stake
GE Consumer Finance, a unit of US giant General Electric, yesterday agreed to purchase a 38 percent stake in Hyundai Capital, the financial services affiliate of South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Group. The accord was part of a strategic alliance between the two companies under which GE Consumer will invest one trillion won (US$857 mil-lion), including 480 won for the 38 percent stake, in Hyundai Capital by 2006, Hyundai Capital said in a statement. GE Consumer was also given an option to buy another 5 percent stake in Hyundai Capital, the statement said. The alliance will help GE Consumer enter South Korea's fast-growing auto loan and consumer financing market and aid Hyundai Capital raise its global profile, Hyundai officials said.
■ Crime
Trial opens in Malaysia
The trial of a former tycoon charged with fraud in Malaysia's biggest-ever financial scandal began yesterday. Eric Chia, the 72-year-old ex-managing director of Perwaja Steel, has pleaded innocent to a charge of criminal breach of trust in connection with the firm's near-collapse in the 1990s. Government lawyers claim Chia -- who was arrested in February but remains free on bail -- illegally approved a 76.4 million ringgit (US$20 million) payment by Per-waja to a bogus Hong Kong company. Chia faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and an unspecified fine. Chia left Perwaja in 1995, and authorities launched a probe in 1996 after an auditor found the company to close to bankruptcy.
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