■ FINANCE
Turner may be new UK chief
The former director of the Confederation of British Industry is the British government’s top choice to become the new chairman of the country’s financial watchdog, the Sunday Times reported. The report said that Lord Adair Turner was expected to be appointed to the Financial Services Authority, which admitted earlier this year it had done a poor job of supervising Northern Rock, the mortgage lender that became Britain’s most prominent victim of the subprime mortgage crisis. Britain’s Treasury declined comment on the report, saying an announcement would be made “in due course.”
■ OIL
CNOOC eyeing Talisman
Chinese oil giant CNOOC (中國海洋石油) is in talks with Canadian-based Talisman Energy over a possible takeover deal, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. CNOOC, China’s third-largest oil company, is in discussions that could lead to asset sales or a complete takeover, the report said, citing unnamed sources. It also said that energy giant PetroChina (中石油) was looking at taking a stake in Santos, the third-largest oil and gas company in Australia.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota making road-rail car
Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and its truck-making affiliate have joined a project to develop an environmentally friendly vehicle capable of moving both on roads and railways, an official said yesterday. Toyota and affiliate Hino Motors Ltd will take part in the development of a new model of a road-rail vehicle originally created by railway operator JR Hokkaido, a Hino spokesman said. The two auto companies are providing technology and materials to strengthen the front part of the “dual mode vehicle” so that it can carry up to 25 people. The railway firm, which operates railways in the northern island of Hokkaido, is already developing several prototypes of road-rail vehicles and has begun test drives. The vehicle has eight wheels — four iron wheels for railways and four rubber tires for roads — and is powered by a diesel engine. It is expected to be completed by the middle of next month and will be displayed at a welcome event for this year’s G8 summit in Hokkaido in July for which climate change is high on the agenda.
■ FINANCE
‘Shariah’ fund launch today
Daiwa Asset Management (Singapore) plans to launch Singapore’s first Shariah-compliant exchange-traded fund today as the Singapore attempts to attract more Islamic investment from overseas. The Daiwa FTSE Shariah Japan 100 will track 100 of Japan’s largest companies by market capitalization that comply with Islamic law, including Toyota Motor Corp, Canon Inc and Nintendo Co, Daiwa said in a statement to the stock exchange in Singapore yesterday. The exchange-traded fund is scheduled to list in Singapore today.
■ HOLLYWOOD
Contract talks continue
The smaller of two actors unions says contract talks with the major Hollywood studios are being held over the holiday Memorial Day weekend. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists sent its members an e-mail on Sunday saying says the talks, which began on May 7 over a handful of TV shows, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, have been constructive. Sunday marked the 15th day of negotiations. The union’s three-year contract expires on June 30.
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
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing