■ BANKING
Non-green lending to stop
In the latest government initiative to improve China's grim environmental record, the central bank yesterday instructed banks to stop lending to projects that cause heavy pollution and waste energy. The People's Bank of China urged banks to realize the "importance and urgency" of using financial services to promote green development. In a statement on its Web site www.pbc.gov.cn, it instructed banks to call in existing loans and to extend no new credit to projects deemed undesirable by the government; it also told banks to lend less to sectors where there is overcapacity. Energy conservation and environmental protection are rising fast up the political agenda in China, where about 460,000 people die prematurely each year from breathing dirty air and drinking polluted water, according to World Bank estimates.
■ CAMERAS
Samsung moving to China
South Korea's largest electronics parts maker said yesterday that it would move all its camera module production lines for mobile handsets to China this year. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a sister firm of Samsung Electronics, said the relocation was designed to cut costs and meet rising demand from clients in the Chinese market. "The relocation is already under way. We will complete it in the third quarter of this year," a spokeswoman said. "It is to meet growing demand from our clients, including Motorola, in China." The company already produces 70 percent of its camera modules at its plant in Tianjin, she said.
■ METALS
Rusal mulls London float
Russian aluminum producer Rusal could put some of its shares up for sale on the London stock market as soon as November in the biggest global initial public offering (IPO) this year, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The business daily, citing sources close to the matter, said the sale of 25 percent of Rusal could raise as much as US$9 billion. Rusal was poised to appoint six investment banks to advise it on the London float, FT said. The report added that Rusal would pursue a listing on the main stock exchange, which would likely hand the Russian titan a place in London's prestigious FTSE 100 index of leading shares.
■ PETROCHEMICALS
Samsung wins UAE order
South Korea's Samsung Engineering Co said yesterday it had won an order worth 279 billion won (US$303 million) to build a petrochemical plant in the United Arab Emirates. The plant, to be built by the end of 2009, was ordered by the UAE's Abu Dhabi Polymers Co, Samsung Engineering said in a regulatory filing.
■ CONSUMER GOODS
Unilever eyes Chinese firm
Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever is eyeing a stake in Chinese personal hygiene firm Shanghai White Cat Shareholding Co (上海白貓), which was recently at the center of a safety scandal, state media said yesterday. "We have approached them," Unilever China vice president Zeng Xiwen (鄭西文) was quoted by the China Business News as saying. "[We] do not rule out Unilever acquiring White Cat." Last month, White Cat admitted to mixing potentially dangerous diethylene glycol into its Maxam brand toothpaste that is exported, heightening global fears about the safety of Chinese-made products.
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