■ FINANCE
Greenspan joins hedge fund
Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is joining the hedge fund Paulson & Co as an adviser, the New York-based company said on Tuesday. Headed by John Paulson, the company said in a statement that the contract was exclusive, barring Greenspan from advising any other investment fund. Greenspan in recent months has signed similar agreements with Pacific Investment Management Corp, a bond specialist, and with the German banking giant Deutsche Bank.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ex-Mitsubishi chief guilty
A former Mitsubishi president was convicted of professional negligence yesterday in a fatal head-on crash that followed a systematic cover-up of auto defects at the Japanese automaker. Former Mitsubishi Motors Corp president Katsuhiko Kawasoe was sentenced to three years in prison suspended for five years, a Yokohama District Court official said on customary condition of anonymity. The suspended sentence means he won't have to serve time. Kawasoe and three other company officials were suspected of failing to report defects although they knew the problems could cause serious accidents. They were charged in 2004 with professional negligence resulting in death in a 2002 accident in southwestern Japan in which a driver died in a crash after the brakes failed on his Mitsubishi vehicle.
■ MORTGAGES
UK lender rejects proposal
Shareholders in Northern Rock, the ailing British mortgage lender, voted at a special meeting on Tuesday against proposals by two hedge funds that would have forced managers to seek shareholder approval for even small asset sales. The vote was a setback for the fund companies RAB Capital and SRM Global Advisers, two of Northern Rock's largest shareholders, which had hoped to obtain greater influence in the bank's future and keep it from selling assets at "knockdown fire sale prices."
■ INVESTMENTS
PRC sets up Africa fund
A Beijing-backed equity fund that aims to boost Sino-African ties has signed a first batch of investment deals worth more than US$90 million, the China Securities Journal said yesterday. The China Africa Development Fund would invest a total of US$4 billion in Sinosteel and three other Chinese companies with projects in Africa, the report said. They include a glass plant in Ethiopia with an annual production of 40,000 tonnes, a 200,000kw gas-fired power plant in Ghana, a chromite project in Zimbabwe and a building material project, it said. The fund was launched in June and had received US$1 billion from the China Development Bank.
■ METALS
Rio Tinto has record output
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said yesterday its iron ore output last year hit a record 179 million tonnes, up 9 percent on the previous year. The world's third-largest mining company, currently fighting off a takeover bid by rival BHP Billiton, said the increase in iron ore production reflected strong demand from major customers. The company said in its fourth-quarter production report it also saw strong demand in other commodities and expects its iron ore output to increase further this year as new capacity comes on stream.
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