■ Financial
Citigroup reports profit
Citigroup Inc, the world's biggest financial-services company by market value, reported a better-than-expected 3.6 percent increase in first-quarter profit, buoyed by record investment-banking revenue. Net income climbed to US$5.64 billion, or US$1.12 a share, from US$5.44 billion, or US$1.04, in the same period a year ago, New York-based Citigroup said in a Business Wire release. Revenue rose to US$22.2 billion. Citigroup's securities unit, the biggest of any bank, helped CEO Charles Prince report a seventh straight increase in quarterly profit as rising short-term interest rates crimped profit in other divisions.
■ Free trade
Thailand, Japan to ink pact
Thailand plans to sign a free trade pact with Japan in July after a postponement from this month due to Bangkok's political crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said yesterday. "Early July is the appropriate time when everything is ready and Thailand will have a new government by then," Somkid told reporters. The two countries reached a basic deal late last year after being held up by a Japanese insistence that only goods originating in Thailand would be covered. "After several rounds of talks, Japan eased some of the rules and that made Thai exporters happier," a Thai official said. About 500 Thai agricultural products are covered by the agreement. In 2004, exports of those products to Japan amounted to 42 billion baht (US$1.7 billion). Thailand's main concessions were lower tariffs on steel and automobiles, while Japan will lift all tariffs on Thai canned tuna, cooked chicken, shrimp and vegetables.
■ Aviation
BAA rejects takeover bid
BAA Plc, the world's largest airports operator, said it rejected a takeover bid from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc as it didn't reflect the company's "true value." The "preliminary, highly conditional" bid was made on March 30, London-based BAA said in an e-mailed statement on Sunday. That was one week before the company rejected a hostile bid from Grupo Ferrovial SA, Spain's second-largest builder, that valued it at £8.75 billion (US$15.3 billion). BAA rejected Goldman's approach "because it clearly fails to reflect the true value of the company," the statement said. Goldman is seeking to increase its infrastructure investments and last month bid US$3.8 billion for Associated British Ports Holdings Plc, the largest UK operator of ports.
■ Investment
OECD urges more opening
China could attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) if it set up transparent merger and acquisition procedures and fully opened its capital markets, the OECD said yesterday. "There is a possibility of even more investment in China," Ken Davies, senior economist at the OECD, told reporters. "China attracts a lot of FDI, more than any other developing country, but less FDI per head than 29 out of the 30 OECD countries." Davis was speaking at yesterday's launch of the OECD's Investment Policy Review -- China, which recommends Beijing fully open its capital markets and set up merger and acquisition standards in accordance with international practice. Relaxing foreign ownership restrictions and increasing regulatory transparency would also help increase FDI inflows, he said. China last year attracted US$60.33 billion in realized FDI, down 0.5 percent year-on-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