■ Auto Industry
Honda may sue China rivals
Honda Motor Co, the first Japanese carmaker to open a plant in China, said it may sue nine Chinese automakers for copying the design of its CR-V sport-utility vehicle. Honda, which has sued two Chinese carmakers since November last year, found there are nine other companies that either make or plan to produce models that look like the Honda CR-V, spokeswoman Sachi Ito said today. The cases are the latest in a series of disputes between overseas automakers and local companies accused of copying of designs and logos. Toyota Motor Corp, Asia's largest carmaker, lost a lawsuit against Geely Group Co in November last year over the Chinese company's use of a logo resembling the Japanese carmaker's badge.
■ Hotels
Las Vegas Sands to expand
US gaming company Las Vegas Sands Inc said it wants to build six more hotels, including some with casinos, in an area of the southern Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macau casino in May and is building the Macau Venetian Casino Resort on the territory's reclaimed Cotai area, which the company has touted as the "Las Vegas Strip of Asia." Now the gaming operator has submitted a proposal to Macau's government to build six more hotel resorts in Cotai, some of which will have casinos, Las Vegas Sands said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted on Wednesday. The company is seeking partners to finance and build the hotels and will only operate the casinos through subsidiaries, the filing said.
■ Advertising
Nike apologizes for ad
Nike has apologized for a footwear ad featuring an attack on a kung fu master which was banned by China, saying it only intended to emulate the Hong Kong martial arts movie heroes of the 1970s. China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on Monday ordered stations nationwide to stop broadcasts of Nike's "LeBron James in Chamber of Fear" ads that it said had sparked anger and claims of offending "national feelings." In the advertisement, James, 19, a forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, makes easy work of animated enemies including a white-haired kung fu master, two women in traditional Chinese garb and the pair of dragons as he ascends the video game-like levels of the "Chamber."
■ DVD Formats
Disney chooses Blue-ray
Hollywood movie powerhouse Walt Disney has taken sides with Japan's Sony Corp in a bitter battle between studios to define a technical standard for next generation DVDs, it said on Wednesday. The house that made Mickey Mouse and its home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) announced they would adopt Sony's Blu-ray disc format, putting Disney at odds with an array of studios supporting rival Toshiba technology. Under the tie-up with Sony for the next generation of video disc players, Disney and BVHE will release their movies non-exclusively in the Blu-ray format when it launches in North America and Japan late next year. Last month Warner Bros, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema took positions in the fight, opting to endorse the HD DVD format touted by Sony rival Toshiba. The two standards are not compatible and will require consumers to choose between one system or another when buying the next generation of DVD players.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
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