■ Food
Fujiya president resigns
The president of a major Japanese cake and candy maker yesterday said he was stepping down after acknowledging the company had repeatedly used old milk and other ingredients in cream puffs and other products. "I am resigning to take responsibility," president Rintaro Fujii, 64, said on nationally televised news. In a news release yesterday, Fujiya said an internal investigation unveiled 18 cases over the last seven years in which expired ingredients were used at a plant in Saitama, near Tokyo, including milk, cream, eggs, blueberry jam and apple filling in products such as cream puffs.
■ Investment
Thailand relaxes controls
The central bank yesterday lifted the ceiling on the amount local companies can invest abroad and said it may relax controls on some foreign borrowings used to finance local investments. The ceiling for overseas investments for companies and individuals was raised to US$50 million a year, from a previous limit of US$10 million, the Bank of Thailand said. The central bank governor said separately that some funds borrowed abroad may be exempt from a 30 percent lockup for 12 months.
■ Investment
FDI up in China
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, excluding banks and other financial companies, rose 5 percent last year to US$63 billion, the government said yesterday. Speaking at a conference on commercial policy, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (薄熙來) said the figure marked a reversal of an investment decline in 2005, the Xinhua news agency reported. With banks and financial companies added, China's foreign investment in 2005 reached a record-high US$72.4 billion, figures reported earlier by the ministry showed.
■ Investment
Seoul eases foreign limits
South Korea yesterday announced a set of measures to boost outbound investment by local companies as part of efforts to curb the won's rise against the dollar which has been putting pressure on exports. Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said the government would ease a cap on overseas property purchases by South Korean investors and exempt local investors from capital gains tax on earnings from equity investments abroad for three years. The US$1 million cap on real estate investment abroad will be raised to US$3 million, he said. "The move is aimed at stimulating outbound investment by South Korean firms," he said, forecasting a capital outflow of up to US$15 billion.
■ Machinery
Japanese orders up 3.8%
Japan's core machinery orders rose 3.8 percent in November from October, the government said yesterday, suggesting business investment will ensure the country's economy continues to recover. The figure exceeded the forecast by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, who estimated on average that core orders would grow 3.4 percent. The data marked two months of growth following a 2.8 percent rise in October. Machinery orders are widely regarded as a leading indicator of capital investment. The data excludes often volatile orders from utilities and for ships. The figures may add to speculation that the central bank will raise interest rates to 0.50 percent from 0.25 percent at its two-day monetary policy meeting ending on Thursday.
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