■ Tourism
Thailand fears decline
Thailand's political crisis and an ongoing insurgency in the south are driving away Asian holidaymakers, with industry experts warning the kingdom could miss its annual tourism target. The state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has forecast that 13.8 million foreign tourists will visit the kingdom this year. Asians make up 60 percent of the total. But the Kasikorn Research Center said tourist arrivals would reach 12.5 million, with tourism revenue seen at 460 billion baht (US$12.2 billion), down from the TAT's target of 486 billion baht. "Protracted demonstrations and unrest in the south may intensify during the interim government," the center said in a paper. "This will affect the tourism atmosphere in the late part of the first quarter, and many tourists could delay or change their plans."
■ Trade
ASEAN ministers meet
Economic ministers from the ASEAN will gather in Manila today for a three day meeting with economic integration and trade issues topping the agenda. Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said in a statement yesterday that the meeting will cover issues of "intra-ASEAN economic integration and integration with free trade agreement partners." The ministers are expected to discuss progress towards implementing an ASEAN Economic Community and a free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea. Details of the ASEAN-South Korea FTA have yet to be finalized and it is not known what products will be covered or when the agreement will take effect. ASEAN has already negotiated a free-trade deal with China, and is aiming to create the world's biggest free trade zone by 2010 with a combined population of nearly 2 billion people.
■ Beverages
Asahi investing in China
Asahi Breweries will invest ¥4 billion (US$36 million) to build a new plant in China amid intensifying competition in China's beer market, the world's biggest, a news report said yesterday. The plant, to be built in the southern city of Huzhou in Zhejiang Province, will start production in May 2007 with an annual production capacity of 100,000 kiloliters, Japan's business daily Nihon Keizai said. That would increase the company's total annual beer production in China by 15 percent to 770,000 kiloliters, the largest among Japanese breweries in China, the paper said, without citing sources. Asahi, which has the largest share in Japan's beer market, aims to increase beer sales to 740,000 kiloliters a year next year, up 26 percent from last year, the paper said.
■ Aviation
Airbus admits mistakes
The planemaker Airbus has made mistakes in its thinking on development of a model to compete with Boeing's new 787, a chief executive of the European consortium admitted on Saturday. In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, made available in advance, Germany's Thomas Enders said Airbus had under-estimated the Boeing 787. "That's why we needed some time to come up with a competitive aircraft," said Enders, co-chairman of the European Aerospace, Defence and Space company which owns Airbus together with British defense group BAE Systems. "We've made mistakes. But we have put this behind us," he said. The company reckoned with sales of 200 of the projected new twin-engined A350 model, which has come under criticism from potential customers. The company has received 100 firm orders for the A350.
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