■ CREDIT CARDS
China to allow foreign cards
Citigroup Inc and four other banks will become the first foreign institutions allowed to issue credit cards on their own in China once they meet regulatory standards, the government said. Foreign banks have been allowed to issue cards since 2004 but until now were required to work through local partners. "After they have satisfied technical standards, the banks can officially start bank card services," a representative of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday on a government Web site.
■ ENERGY
Chevron signs CNPC deal
US energy giant Chevron Corp has signed a 30-year product-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to jointly develop a large gas field in southwestern China. The gas block, occupying 1,969km2, marked China's largest onshore exploration involving a foreign group, said a CNPC statement released Tuesday. Under the terms, CNPC, the parent of China's largest oil producer PetroChina, will hold a 51 percent stake in the Chuandongbei gas block in Sichuan Province while Chevron has the remaining 49 percent, it said. The field has proven reserves of 175.97 billion cubic meters.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita in OLED talks
Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial, Canon and Hitachi are in talks on a multibillion-dollar deal to team up in thin panels for televisions and other electronics, a report said yesterday. The three companies are in the final stage of negotiations on forming an alliance to produce organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels, the Nikkei Shimbun economic daily said without naming sources. They also aim to invest £300 billion (US$2.6 billion) to build a new factory to make small and midsized liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, it said. The three companies declined to comment on the report, saying nothing had been decided.
■ PRODUCT SAFETY
Chinese toys recalled
A Japanese importer is recalling 230,000 toys made in China due to excessive levels of toxic substances, an official said yesterday, the latest in a wave of global recalls of Chinese goods. The recall, which began on Tuesday, covers toys that were sold from 2004 up to the beginning of December this year, an official of Marushin Toys said. According to Japan's Toy Association Web site, the importer slapped fake safety labels on 16 items without the necessary authorization or inspections. Among the recalled toys, at least 132,000 contained excessive levels of lead and other chemicals, the association said. It was unable to check the remainder as there were none left in stock.
■ BANKING
British bank eyes share
British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks to buy 19.9 percent of Suzhou Trust in China, its latest attempt to ramp up its position in the Chinese market, state media said yesterday. "The two parties have got initial results in negotiations over key issues such as the selling price and the size of the stake," the 21st Century Business Herald cited an unnamed source close to the deal as saying. The value of the deal was not disclosed, the newspaper said. The potential deal would be the Royal Bank of Scotland's second purchase of Chinese financial assets. It currently holds 8.25 percent of Bank of China, one of the nation's big four state-owned lenders.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique