■ 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 HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from