■ Auto industry
GM, Toyota may cooperate
Senior officials of several Japanese and US automakers will meet this month, with Toyota Motor expected to offer troubled US giant General Motors cooperation on safety and environmental technologies, a report said yesterday. GM chairman Richard Wagoner will visit Japan for talks with Toyota President Fujio Cho when they are expected to discuss ways that Toyota may work with the world's largest automaker, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said without citing sources. The two men are likely to talk about how Toyota can help particularly in the fields of safety and environmental technologies, the newspaper said. The scheduled talks will come after Toyota chairman Hiroshi Okuda said his company was ready to discuss such issues with GM and Ford whose business is struggling as foreign makers, especially Japanese and South Korean companies, eat into their market share.
■ Finance
ADB urged to raise lending
China's Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人慶) yesterday called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to boost its level of lending, telling participants at the bank's annual meeting in Turkey that it should listen more to its borrowers. Speaking at the ADB meeting in Istanbul, Jin noted that total lending last year had decreased compared to 2003 and that the net transfer of resources to developing member countries had been negative for two consecutive years. "To meet the demands of (developing member countries) better, the ADB should make efforts to maintain a reasonable level of lending while improving its aid effectiveness and further strengthening its support to the private sector," he said.
■ Oil
Owners form new company
A group of private Chinese refinery and filling station owners plan to form a new oil company to compete with their giant, state-owned rivals, a newspaper said yesterday. The new corporation's activities will range from drilling to refining and sales, the China Daily reported, citing the China Chamber of Commerce for Petroleum Industry, part of the official All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The announcement comes as China prepares to open its wholesale oil industry to foreign investors by next year under commitments to the WTO. The retail portion of the industry was opened to companies with foreign investment in December. The new company will be named "Great Wall" and plans to sell shares to investors abroad, Wang said.
■ Software
Watchdata cuts IPO shares
Watchdata Technologies Ltd has cut both the number of shares and the price range for its initial public offering, which is expected to price Wednesday night. Watchdata, a Beijing company that makes operating system software with data security and encryption functions, is now scheduled to sell 3 million American Depository Shares, down from the 4 million it previously had registered. The price range has been lowered to US$14 to US$15 a share, down from US$18 to US$20 a share. If priced Wednesday night as expected, the stock should begin trading as of yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "WDAT." A group of current shareholders that had planned to sell part of their existing stakes in the company to the public has now pulled its shares from the offering; instead, all the shares in the deal will come solely from the company.
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