■ Aviation
Industry told to cut costs
Airlines and airports should cut costs to counter huge losses due to high fuel prices and falling fares, an aviation industry official said. "Our industry needs to change fast," Giovanni Bisignani, the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) director general, told a travel industry conference in Macau on Monday. Bisignani called on airlines to start "simplifying their businesses" and urged airports to become more cost conscious. IATA predicts the airline industry will lose US$5.5 billion this year as oil prices remain high and budget carriers are putting pressure on prices. The association says the industry lost a total of US$36 billion between 2001 and last year.
■ Automobiles
Ford, Mazda in China deal
Ford Motor Co, Japan's Mazda Motor Corp and Chinese partner Changan Automotive Group (長安汽車) announced a joint venture yesterday to build a new engine plant in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing. The plant will make engines for the auto companies' factories in China, Ford said in a statement. The venture, named Changan Ford Mazda Engine Co, which is still subject to government approval, is scheduled to be operational by 2007. Initially the factory will supply engines to the partners' nearby vehicle assembly facility, which is under construction. The new engine plant is part of a more-than US$1 billion China investment plan announced last October by Ford. Ford's 190,000m2 joint venture auto assembly plant in Nanjing is due to have an initial annual capacity of 160,000 vehicles. The engine plant is to have an annual capacity of 350,000 engines, Ford said.
■ Engineering
ABB reports irregularities
ABB Ltd, the Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering giant, said yesterday that it had reported to US authorities US$560,000 in suspect payments by employees of an American subsidiary. A company statement said the irregularities at the software unit ABB network management were discovered during an internal investigation following the dismissal of two managers from the company in the middle of last year. The payments -- to intermediaries in Latin America and in the Middle East -- were made in connection with the company's control software for utility customers, the statement said. ABB said that it had reported the payments to the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
■ Banking
No job cuts planned for KFB
British-based emerging markets banking giant Standard Chartered, new owner of Korea First Bank (KFB), said yesterday it had agreed there will be no lay-offs at the South Korean lender as part of its acquisition. Standard Chartered last week completed its US$3.3 billion deal to acquire KFB in the largest single foreign investment in South Korea's financial industry. "Our aim is to make Korea First Bank a leader in South Korea's financial services industry -- a leader in customer satisfaction and performance," Standard Chartered Group chief executive Mervyn Davies said in a news conference in Seoul. New KFB President John Filmeridis reaffirmed the company's 4,200-strong payroll would remain the same.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from