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.
NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: The KMT urged the CECC to exclude Taiwanese from the arrivals cap, as they would lose their right to vote if they could not return by July 26 The COVID-19-related border control measures and the cap on the number of international arrivals are not being eased, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported 112 imported cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesperson, said a meeting was held yesterday morning in which the Cabinet decided that current border control measures would remain in place. He said the main considerations were global COVID-19 cases increasing 21 percent last week, imported cases of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 continuing to be detected
Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung (張學友) has been criticized by the “Little Pink” — a term used to describe young, jingoistic Chinese nationalists on the Web — for saying “Hong Kong jia you [加油, an expression of encouragement].” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule on Friday, China Central Television made a series of programs in which it interviewed Cheung and other celebrities. Cheung, speaking in Cantonese, said in the interview that “Hong Kong has been through a lot in the past 25 years, including ups and downs” and ended with the phrase “Hong
FLASH POINT: The ministry said it was aware of Chinese and Russian warships being detected in waters near the disputed islands and was closely monitoring the situation The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reaffirmed the nation’s sovereignty claim over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) after Japan, which controls the islands in the East China Sea, accused Chinese and Russian warships of operating near the disputed islands. “It is an indisputable fact that the Diaoyutai Islands are an inherent part of the territory of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Any unilateral action taken by other parties will not change the fact,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. Citing the government’s stance in calling on all parties concerned to resolve disputes in a peaceful manner, Ou said the government was aware of
Taiwan recorded its first local cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2, two family members of imported cases who arrived from the US, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that the index case — reported on Monday — tested positive with the COVID-19 subvariant after arriving from the US. The woman returned to Taiwan with her two children, both aged under 10, on June 19, and they underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test upon arrival, Lo said, adding that