■ Semiconductors
Toshiba ups chip production
Japan's Toshiba will invest ¥200 billion (US$1.8 billion) to boost output of flash-memory chips used for mobile phones and portable music players to meet soaring global demand, a report said yesterday. The electronics giant will lift production capacity at its domestic chip plant to 150,000 units per month in 2007, sharply up from the current capacity of 10,000 units, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Toshiba's move will likely pose a challenge to South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest computer-memory chip maker, which controls more than 50 percent of the global flash-memory market, the daily said. Toshiba estimates the global market value for high-density NAND flash memory chips will soar to ¥2 trillion in 2008, up 168 percent from ¥745 billion last year.
■ Telecom
Canberra mulling options
The Australian government could transfer some or all of its shares in the telecommunications giant Telstra into a proposed "future fund" rather than sell them at any price, Finance Minister Nick Minchin said yesterday. The government of Prime Minister John Howard has authorized the controversial sale of its remaining 51.8 percent share in the company for which it hopes to raise some A$30 billion (US$23 billion). Minchin, who is preparing a report for Cabinet on the sale, said it had not yet been decided whether the sale would proceed in one tranche or three. If there was a partial sell-off, the government's remaining stake could be transferred to a proposed "future fund," designed to pay for the government's future pension liabilities, and sold at the discretion of the fund's independent board. Minchin said it was possible that all of the government's Telstra shares could be placed in this fund.
■ Trade
EU official urges effort
Mariann Fischer Boel, the agriculture commissioner of the EU, said yesterday that a "huge effort" is needed if the upcoming WTO meeting in Hong Kong is to be a success. Speaking after an informal meeting with the agriculture ministers of Australia, Japan, the US and Canada in Queensland state, she urged all countries to work to end the current impasse in trade talks. "We all realize what is at stake and now all sides have to contribute to keeping this train on track, making sure there is movement in all three agricultural pillars -- export subsidies, domestic support and market access," she said in a statement. December's WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong is hoped to conclude the Doha round of talks after four years of often heated negotiations designed to reduce protectionism and promote trade to aid development in poorer countries. However, the failure to hammer out an interim agreement last month prompted speculation that the December meeting was doomed to failure.
■ Automobiles
Hybrid owners seek passes
California owners of hybrid-electric cars are rushing to get state permits that let them drive without passengers in freeway carpool lanes, with about 1,000 people applying per day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. More than 12,000 drivers have registered for the special stickers that became available Aug. 10, the paper said. California passed a law allowing solo drivers of high-mileage hybrids into carpool lanes last year.
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