■ CHINA
Finance minister replaced
Jin Renqing (金人慶), the finance minister for the past four years , has been shifted to a government think-tank post and will be replaced by the nation's top tax collector, government sources said yesterday. Jin, 63, will be replaced by Xie Xuren (謝旭人), director of the State Administration of Taxation, the sources said. Xie's promotion will require approval by the National People's Congress, they said, although this is essentially a formality. They gave no specific reasons why Jin had been transferred, and he had given no public indication that he was planning to step aside.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai union mulls strike
Workers at yundai Motor, South Korea's biggest carmaker, will stage a weekend overtime ban before a possible strike next week, union officials said yesterday. The 44,000-strong union will vote tomorrow on whether to strike in support of an 8.9 percent pay increase, an extension of the retirement age from 58 to 60 and a halt to the allocation of work to overseas plants. "We will reject extra work Saturday and Sunday," union leader Lee Jung-hee said, adding that the union could stage a strike anytime from next Tuesday unless its demands are met. The company has offered a 5.4 percent pay rise.
■ SOFTWARE
Wipro to open US center
India's Wipro Technologies Ltd plans to open a software development center in Atlanta, George, that will employ mostly graduates from universities and colleges in the US state, the company said. Wipro Technologies -- which is the global services arm of the outsourcing company Wipro Ltd -- will start the center with 200 employees and scale it up to 500 positions in three years, the company said in a statement released late on Monday. "The center is part of Wipro's strategy to build global delivery capabilities and will significantly increase the company's presence and base of local hires in the United States," the statement said.
■ BANKING
Watchdog blocks KEB sale
South Korea's financial watchdog said yesterday it would not approve the sale of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) to HSBC until legal cases over its previous sale are settled. HSBC said last week it was in talks to buy a majority stake in the nation's fifth-largest commercial bank from Lone Star. "HSBC cannot be an exception to the [customary] position of financial authorities" said Kim Dae-pyung, deputy governor of the Financial Supervisory Service. Prosecutors brought charges against six people, including a former KEB president last year, accusing them of manipulating figures on KEB's financial health to pave the way for the US private equity fund to acquire the bank in 2003.
■ INTERNET
Japan exploring technology
Japan will start research on new network technology to replace the Internet to tackle growing quality and security problems, a government official said yesterday. US and European researchers have already started research to rebuild the underlying architecture of the Internet -- a move that could mean replacing networking equipment and rewriting software on computers. Yoshihiro Onishi, assistant director at the Ministry of Communication, said Japan felt it was crucial to follow suit to stay competitive. Post-Internet network technology is expected to become imperative by 2020, he said.
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