■ Automobiles
Honda plans mini-hybrid
Honda Motor Co plans to introduce the world's first hybrid subcompact car as early as the next fiscal year, being April 1, 2007, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese automaker, which already sells three hybrid models, plans to market the subcompact for about ¥1.4 million (US$11,803) while most of the hybrids on the market go for at least ¥2 million, the business daily said. Honda's rival Toyota now offers five hybrid models since it introduced its Prius in 1997 and announced sales of 235,000 units last year, which made up 3.2 percent of its total car sales.
■ Electronics
Chinese GPS introduced
Pioneer Corp will next month begin sales in China of a car-navigation system that also plays music and movies, the Japanese electronics company said yesterday. The GPS system, which comes with a touch-sensitive display and voice-activated feature, will offer maps of 20 provinces and two autonomous regions for 19,800 yuan (US$2,460). The DVD-based navigator will also play CDs up to 480 minutes long and DVDs, which allows back-seat passengers to watch movies with a separately sold monitor. Pioneer said it expected sales of its GPS system to rise as automobile sales in China also grow by more than a projected 10 million units by 2014. The company first introduced its navigation systems in Japan in 1990, followed by Europe and North America in 1999.
■ Finance
Interest rates to get wilder
Federal Reserve policy-makers last month indicated that interest-rate decisions could become less predictable, relying more heavily on short-term economic prospects than on more sweeping monetary strategy. Minutes of the Fed's closed-door meeting on Jan. 31 -- Chairman Alan Greenspan's last -- were released on Tuesday and offered insight into policy-makers' thinking as they contemplated what might be the appropriate end point in the Fed's nearly two-year credit tightening campaign and as they prepared for the new chief, Ben Bernanke. "Although the stance of policy seemed close to where it needed to be given the current outlook, some future policy firming might be needed" to keep inflation and the economy on an even keel, according to the minutes.
■ Banking
Small banks look attractive
China's city commercial banks are becoming increasingly attractive to overseas investors as stepping stones into the country's huge financial sector, Moody's Investors Service said yesterday. "The banks are becoming hot targets for overseas investment because they are relatively small and provide an entry point for foreign banks to participate in China's growing banking sector," May Yan, senior analyst with Moody's, said in a teleconference. For China's smaller banks the benefits of foreign capital injections amounted to more than just a shot in the arm of liquidity, Yan said. "Foreign banks are also required to provide technical assistance in many areas, including risk management, product knowledge and maybe management personnel," Yan said. "Overall, in the intermediate term, we expect to see some positive effects by foreign investment. For example, transparency and information quality to improve under the influence of foreign partners," Yan said.
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