■ INVESTMENT
China raises foreign quota
China plans to raise the quota for foreign share investments under its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program to US$30 billion from US$10 billion, a state-run newspaper said yesterday. The China Business News cited an unnamed source saying the report said the move would emerge during high-level trade talks this week between China and the US. The qualified investor program, which launched in mid-2003, allows approved foreign institutional investors to trade yuan-denominated securities listed on exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Such shares are off-limits to most foreign investors.
■ SECURITIES
Tokyo bourse mulls allies
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's chief executive is considering various capital alliances with overseas exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, to gain more listings, profits and status. Taizo Nishimuro, the exchange's head, said on Tuesday that the alliances aren't limited to taking stakes in each other but also could include 50-50 joint ventures. Japanese government and company officials have worried that investors and companies looking to list their shares are deserting Japan for more lucrative financial centers, including Hong Kong, Singapore and London. The number of foreign companies listed in Tokyo fell to 28 in 2005 from 125 in 1990, the Japanese government said.
■ BANKING
Thailand cuts interest rate
The Bank of Thailand cut its key interest rate by a half-point to 3.5 percent yesterday in a bid to spur sluggish consumer spending hit by post-coup political uncertainty. It was the fourth rate cut this year and the move was in line with market expectations. "The interest rate was cut as inflationary pressure remained low," Suchada Kirakul, an assistant central bank governor, told reporters, adding the current rate level was "appropriate" for the Thai economy. Consumer confidence in April plunged to a new five-year low, while the central bank has reduced its growth forecast for this year to 3.8 percent to 4.8 percent.
■ TRADE
US, China disagree
The US told China on Tuesday that it was becoming impatient with the Asian giant's lagging economic reforms but Beijing warned Washington against politicizing their trade relations. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in his opening remarks at a two-day "strategic economic dialogue" meeting with top Chinese officials, urged Beijing to take prompt action to redress "persistent trade and financial imbalances," saying Americans were "impatient."
■ AUTOMOTIVE
Proton sellers may go bust
Hundreds of Proton car dealers may go bust if the government fails to quickly forge a foreign alliance for the ailing Malaysian carmaker, an industry group warned yesterday. Some 180 Proton car dealers have accumulated losses exceeding 20 million ringgit (US$5.9 million) in the fiscal year that ended March 31, as Proton's domestic market share plunged to 30 percent from 60 percent in 2002, the Proton Edar Dealers Association said. The association expressed its disappointment that the government, which controls Proton through state investment arm Khazanah Nasional, has not been able to seal a foreign alliance.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)