■ Banking
Citigroup appoints new COO
The world's largest banking group, Citigroup, announced new management on Monday as it vies with competitor Bank of America, which is aggressively expanding its turf. Citigroup said in a statement that it had appointed Robert Druskin, 59, as its new chief operating officer. Druskin will report directly to Citigroup chief executive Chuck Prince. "One of his [Druskin's] first tasks is to undertake a comprehensive review of our expense base," Prince said.
■ Steel
Giants join forces
South Korean steel giant POSCO and Japanese rival Nippon Steel have agreed to jointly conduct purchasing operations for iron ore in the next contract year, officials said yesterday. The aim is to secure a stable supply as China's growing appetite for raw materials causes shortages and pushes up costs, POSCO spokeswoman Ko Min-jin said. The next contract year starts in April, she said. Nippon Steel and POSCO, the world's second and third largest steelmakers by output, forged a partnership based on a cross-shareholding arrangement in 2000. In October they agreed to increase stakes in each other's company by March next year.
■ Food
Ministry approves sale
China's Ministry of Commerce has given a green light for a Goldman Sachs unit to buy China's biggest meat processor, Shuanghui Group (雙匯集團), the company said yesterday. Rotary Vortex Ltd, which is 51 percent owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, will buy Shuanghui and a stake in its publicly traded unit, Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co, for a total of ?2.57 billion (US$325 million), Shuanghui said in an announcement posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Web site. Rotary Vortex's plan to buy a 100 percent stake in Shuanghui was among several high profile foreign acquisitions that raised criticism about the growing influence of foreign businesses in key industries.
■ Finance
Japan to cut bond issuance
Japan will make its largest ever cut in bond issuance to trim budget spending for the fiscal year beginning in April, the government's top spokesman said yesterday, part of an effort to reduce the country's huge national debt. The government plans a deeper cut in new bond sales than the ?4.4 trillion (US$37.8 billion) reduction for the current fiscal year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters. That would bring total bond issuance for the year to below ?25.5 trillion. Japan's combined outstanding central and local government debt is expected to stand at around 150 percent of GDP at the end of this fiscal year through March, the highest among major industrialized nations.
■ Mobile phones
Prada and LG team up
Italian luxury goods designer Prada has tied up with South Korea's LG Electronics in hopes of developing the ultimate mobile phone fashion accessory, officials said yesterday. LG said in a statement that distribution of the phone would start in early next year in Europe, followed by Asia. It will be available in South Korea in the second quarter of next year. The company said it would develop a unique, sophisticated and elegant phone, with an advanced-touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad.
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