■ Economy
Thailand's exports rise
Thailand's exports rose to a monthly record last month as orders from the US, Europe and Japan for manufactured and agricultural products surged, Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said. Exports rose 17 percent from a year earlier to US$11.15 billion, Somkid told reporters yesterday. The total exceeded the previous record of US$11.09 billion set in March. Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy has depended on rising overseas sales of computer parts, automobiles and other products to spur growth after high fuel prices and a political stalemate cut consumption and investments. "Exports of most products had very strong growth in July because of rising demand from the US, Japan and Europe that the export growth this year will easily beat the commerce ministry's target of 17 percent," Somkid said. Thailand's exports in the second half will be bolstered by rising demand ahead of Christmas and the New Year, Somkid said.
■ Economy
HK's growth likely slowed
Hong Kong's economic growth is likely to have moderated in the second quarter, as a slowdown in the US, its biggest trading partner, hurt the territory's exports, economists said. Seven economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires expected an average of 6.1 percent growth in GDP during the second quarter of this year from a year earlier. That's lower than the 8.2 percent growth recorded in the first quarter and the 7.2 percent increase in the year-earlier period. Total exports for the April to June period rose by a modest 5.4 percent, compared with the phenomenal 12.1 percent increase in the first quarter.
■ China
Private sector dominates
Less than half of the top 500 manufacturing companies in China are actually state-owned, official media reported yesterday. Only 220 of the biggest enterprises in the manufacturing industry are directly controlled by the state, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics. The rest divide themselves between genuinely private companies and a less clear-cut category of collective enterprises, which may involve some measure of government control. Xinhua did not specify how many of the 500 enterprises belonged to each of the two groups. China's style of communism has allowed for a significant and growing role for the private sector in recent years.
■ Auto Industry
Proton supplies Indonesia
Malaysia's troubled national carmaker Proton will supply 3,000 Wira models to Indonesia for use as taxis in a fresh drive to boost exports, the state Bernama news agency reported yesterday. The Wira taxis will be delivered in batches to several major cities, Bernama quoted Dwi Sasetia, director of Proton's Indonesian subsidiary, as saying. "It is a big vote of confidence in Proton cars by Indonesia's taxi drivers because taxis need to be tough and reliable to keep running round the clock on the busy streets," Dwi told Bernama. He said taxis in Indonesia often had suffer "snarling traffic jams and uneven road surfaces" in many parts of its cities. "So when owners evaluate vehicles to replace their taxi fleet, they make sure they get cars that can take the beating of Indonesia's streets," Dwi said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source