■ IT Market
Sales to grow 10 percent
Sales of computers, software and related services will grow 10 percent in Asia outside of Japan next year, with India and China leading the expansion, a market researcher said. The market in Asia will rise to US$97 billion from US$88.2 billion this year, according to an estimate from Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. The growth rate this year was 9.6 percent, said the researcher. Demand may rise for products including hand-held devices that incorporate communications features, training and education services, application soft-ware and software used for corporate networks, IDC said in an e-mailed state-ment. Sales may rise 15 percent in China, which will account for one third of industry revenue, and 22 percent in India, which will contribute 8.7 percent of Asian sales. Vietnam will post the second-fastest growth, at 16 percent.
■ World Trade
S Korea to open market
South Korea announced yesterday an agreement to allow rice imports of nearly 8 percent of domestic consumption by 2014. Under a 1994 global free trade agreement, South Korea was allowed to limit rice imports to 4 percent of domestic consumption, or about 205,000 tonnes. That deal expires this year, and WTO rules stated that South Korea must open its market with tariffs if it failed to conclude agreements by the end of this year with the US, China, Thailand and six other rice-exporting countries that demand South Korea open its market wider. Yesterday, South Korea said it has reached an agreement with the countries not to open its market with tariffs for another 10 years. In return, it will increase rice imports to up to 7.96 percent of domestic consumption, or about 408,700 tonnes by 2014.
■ Electronics
Apex chair held in China
Chinese police have arrested the chairman of California-based electronics maker Apex Digital Inc, the US Embassy confirmed yesterday, following reports that he was being investigated for financial fraud. David Ji (季龍粉), who founded Apex in 1999, was detained in October in Shenzhen, Chinese newspapers had reported earlier. His detention followed an investigation by police in Sichuan Province -- the home base of Chinese television maker Sichuan Changhong Electric Co (四川長虹), which accuses Apex of owing it US$467.5 million, the reports said.
■ Telecoms
Russia to sell Svyazinvest
Russia will go ahead with the privatization of telecommunications giant OAO Svyazinvest despite the postponement of eagerly awaited auctions of other major companies, the country's information technology minister said on Wednesday. Leonid Reiman said no firm decision had been made on how or when a 75 percent stake in the telecoms holding company would take place. But he said that President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov both "fundamentally agree" about the privatization. Analysts were skeptical the Svyazinvest sale would happen, since the govern-ment has repeatedly postponed auctions and reforms in other major state-owned companies, such as power grid monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems and natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom. Reiman said he was optimistic about the telecoms sector because it was more developed than other Russian industries.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)