China and France signed nuclear, aviation and other contracts yesterday that officials said were worth around US$30 billion, an amount French President Nicolas Sarkozy called unprecedented.
"The total amount of these contracts has never been matched before," Sarkozy told his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (
The contracts included an 8 billion euro (US$11.9 billion) deal for the delivery of two third-generation nuclear reactors by French firm Areva, and an agreement worth more than US$17 billion for 160 Airbus planes.
PHOTO: AFP
The total amounts of the deals -- both in industries currently undergoing speedy expansion in China -- were given by Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon and officials involved in the Airbus talks.
The long-anticipated Areva deal will see the French company deliver two European Pressurized water Reactors (EPRs) to China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC).
"It's a record. In the history of the civilian nuclear industry, there's never been a deal of this magnitude," Lauvergeon said ahead of the official signing.
Areva and CGNPC also agreed to set up a company that will operate the two EPRs until 2026, the second agreement said.
In a third deal, CGNPC will take over 35 percent in the operations of three African uranium mines which Areva gained control over this summer after acquiring Canadian uranium producer UraMin.
The Airbus purchase includes 110 planes from the short-haul A320 family and 50 A330 wide-body passenger airliners, a source said.
Ten of the 50 A330s will go to China Southern Airlines which made that part of the deal public late last month.
The deal is welcome news to Airbus, which has struggled with a decline in the US dollar and delays with its A400M military transport aircraft and the A380 superjumbo that has wiped billions of euros off its profit.
The Chinese order stands to push Airbus past Boeing in total orders for commercial aircraft.
Boeing said last week it had received 1,047 commercial airplane orders this year, already beating last year's record-setting total of 1,044 orders. Airbus had logged 1,021 commercial jet orders as of the end of last month, the most recent data available on the company's Web site.
SECRET OUT: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday accidentally revealed that the infections occurred at the ministry’s Taoyuan General Hospital The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the fifth COVID-19 case in a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital, where four other medical workers were confirmed to have been infected over the past week. The latest case is a nurse who had tested negative on Tuesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference. However, on Thursday, she developed symptoms, such as nasal congestion and a cough, and a second test yesterday found that she was infected, Chen said. She is the head nurse of a ward where two
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
Don Quijote, the biggest discount store in Japan, is opening its first store in Taiwan today. The three-story Don Don Donki store in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area, which operates 24 hours a day, has already created 400 jobs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said in a press release. Many Taiwanese, including Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), consider a trip to Don Quijote an essential stop in Japan. “I have been to Don Quijote at least 10 times myself,” Huang said yesterday at a news conference announcing the store’s opening. “They are rendering an important service, because we cannot travel
CHANGE OF GUARD: Hsiao Bi-khim’s attendance at Joe Biden’s inauguration will come as a boost to those in Taiwan who feared that the new US administration would be less friendly than that of Donald Trump to the nation Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to attend US President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol after she was invited by the US Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a news release issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said last night. The news came as a surprise as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been reticent about the matter, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members had accused the Democratic Progressive Party administration of hedging its bets on the Republican Party. Asked about when Hsiao received the invitation, the ministry did not