■ STEEL
China may block merger
China has sanctioned state-owned companies to examine three possible strategies to block BHP Billiton's proposed takeover of mining giant Rio Tinto, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. Citing unnamed sources, the daily said that strategies include forming a local consortium to bid for Rio Tinto, a joint bid by domestic and foreign firms, or purchasing Rio shares on the open market. "[Companies] have approval from the State Council to go ahead and get actively involved," one source was quoted as saying. China International Capital Corp and Bank of China International have been retained by the government in an overall advisory role, the report said.
■ BANKING
ECB to tackle inflation
European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet pledged, in an interview published yesterday, to focus on eurozone inflation and not let interest-rate cuts in the US and the UK distract the bank from tightening monetary policy. Speaking to the Financial Times in Frankfurt in an interview conducted on Dec. 13, Trichet said any evidence of "second-round effects" leading to an acceleration in inflation would be "decisive." The ECB's main interest rate currently stands at 4 percent. Eurozone inflation hit 3.1 percent last year, the highest level in six-and-a-half years owing to rising costs of energy and food products. ECB directors have a mandate to keep inflation slightly below 2 percent.
■ PHILIPPINES
Record remittances
More than 1 million Filipinos left for short-term work abroad this year, the Philippine labor department said yesterday. At this rate of deployment, the labor migrants would most likely send home a record US$14 billion to their families this year, Philippine Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said in a statement. A total of 1,012,954 Filipinos left for more than 190 countries between Jan. 1 and Dec. 9, representing a 1.1 percent rise from the figure a year ago, he said. Brion said annual remittances should "continue to approach, if not reach, US$14 billion for the first time in history by year-end 2007."
■ FINANCE
Japan mulling reforms
Japanese regulators have announced the largest financial market reforms in a decade in the face of hot competition to be Asia's financial hub. On Friday the Financial Services Agency unveiled a plan to enhance "the competitiveness of financial and capital markets" with deregulation and liberalization. The agency plans to submit the bills to parliament early next year to revise existing regulations, agency officials said. Under the latest package, Tokyo will remove ban on creating a comprehensive financial market to handle the trading of stocks, bonds and financial and commodity derivatives in two years.
■ SHIPBUILDING
Samsung wins huge orders
South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second-largest shipbuilder, said yesterday it had secured US$2.41 billion in new orders. The company said it won a US$1.15 billion contract to build two semi-submersible floating drilling rigs by September 2010 for an unidentified Russian client. Separately, clients in Africa and in the Americas ordered two oil drilling ships worth US$1.26 billion, which will be delivered by May 2011, it said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from