■ South Korea
OPEC to join APEC meeting
Pacific Rim energy ministers and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) officials will meet next week in South Korea to address soaring oil costs and explore possible cooperation in regional energy projects. The 7th APEC Energy Ministers' Meeting will take place in the southeastern city of Gyeongju on Oct. 18 and Oct. 19, South Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said yesterday. The energy meeting is usually held every two years, but the member economies have scheduled it for this year even after a meeting in Manila last year because of surging energy prices. It will also mark the first time that OPEC officials will attend.
■ China
Snow pushes for reform
US Treasury Secretary John Snow yesterday urged China to move even faster in pushing ahead with reforms of its nascent capital markets, which still lag behind the rest of the booming economy. China allows only limited foreign-exchange trading, its bond and other financial products markets are in their infancy, and most companies choose to list shares not on domestic bourses but in Hong Kong and elsewhere. "It's clear the potential of the financial sector to play a larger role in the economy is enormous," Snow said, adding that he would continue to press for greater openness for foreign companies -- and for more progress toward a more flexible, market-driven exchange rate. "I think it's in China's interest to continue down this path," said Snow, who is leading a US delegation in Beijing, backed by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
■ Banking
Paribas inks China deal
French bank BNP Paribas (BNPP) signed a deal yesterday that ramps up its presence in China with the purchase of a 19.2 percent stake in Nanjing City Commercial Bank for US$87 million. "BNPP is to acquire from several shareholders a 19.2 percent shareholding in NCCB (Nanjing City Commercial Bank) at a price of 704 million yuan," a joint statement said. After more than a year of tough negotiations BNP Paribas will become, after regulatory approval, the Chinese bank's second largest shareholder. Nanjing State-owned Asset Investment and Management Holding (Group) Co remains the largest shareholder with a stake of 19.7 percent.
■ Japan
Post, couriers in talks
Japan's postal system is winding up talks on tie-ups with several major couriers such as TNT Post Group of the Netherlands and Japan's Nippon Express Co, with the goal of tapping into the courier business, a news report said yesterday. Japan Post wants the deals, expected to be concluded by the end of the year, so it can set up joint courier firms that can gain a foothold in Asia, the largest daily Yomiuri Shimbun said. Under the current law, Japan Post can only transfer international mail it receives in Japan to a postal service operator in another country. On Tuesday, Japan's lower house of parliament passed legislation to privatize the country's vast postal system, which would allow Japan Post to start international distribution of goods starting April next year.
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