■ 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-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