■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota mulling sports car
Toyota Motor Corp and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd are in discussions to develop a low-cost sports car targeting younger drivers, the Asahi Shimbun reported yesterday. The new sports car would likely be sold by Toyota, on track to become the world's No. 1 automaker by production, and carry a horizontally opposed engine developed by Fuji Heavy, it said. The car will have a relatively low price tag of under ¥2 million (US$16,780) to attract younger drivers, Asahi said. Both companies declined comment, but spokesmen said they were in talks on several possible collaborations.
■ BANKING
HSBC taps into rural China
Global bank HSBC said yesterday it had received the official go-ahead to open a wholly owned banking subsidiary in rural China, making it the first foreign bank to tap into the nation's countryside. The HSBC Rural Bank will be based in Cengdu County in Hubei Province, HSBC said in a statement. The operation, which is expected to be established by the end of the year with up to 25 staff, will cover an area of 6,900km2, the statement said. "We very much support China's policy priority to develop its rural economy and intend to play a full part in these ambitions," HSBC group chairman Stephen Green said in the statement.
■ AVIATION
Virgin buys AirAsia X stake
Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group yesterday purchased a 20 percent stake in Malaysia's long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X, in an alliance that could transform the face of Asian aviation. Virgin's purchase of the stake in Fly Asian Xpress (FAX), operator of the new airline, was announced in a company statement. It did not say how much the stake is worth. FAX is owned by the founder of the region's largest low-cost carrier AirAsia. AirAsia X has been granted rights to fly to Stansted airport near London and to Australia's Gold Coast, with first flights to Australia to begin next month or early October, the statement said.
■ PHARMACEUTICALS
EU warns off Thai regime
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has warned the Thai government against moves that would force drugmakers to drop their prices on expensive medication, the Financial Times reported yesterday. In a letter seen by the business daily, Mandelson wrote that Thailand "may be taking a new approach to medicines," adding that the country's military government "stated that if drug companies wish to do business in Thailand, they should offer their drugs for no more than 5 percent above the generic cost." "This approach is a matter of concern for the European Union and would be detrimental to the patent system, and so to innovation and the development of new medicines," Mandelson said.
■ OIL
PetroChina plans issue
Shareholders of PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣), China's biggest oil firm, approved a plan yesterday to sell its first shares to domestic investors in a move that could raise up to US$6 billion. The plan was approved at a shareholders' meeting in Beijing. The company, which is traded in Hong Kong and New York, said earlier it would issue 4 billion shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Chinese companies have been issuing shares on the country's booming domestic markets in recent months following a string of multibillion-dollar initial public offerings abroad.
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
‘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)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary