■ TELECOMS
Scandal at Deutsche Telekom
A former personnel director of the German telecommunications operator Deutsche Telekom accused two of the group’s former bosses yesterday of involvement in a telephone spy scandal. Former chairman Kai-Uwe Ricke and supervisory board president Klaus Zumwinckel were more involved than initially thought, Heinz Klinkhammer told the business daily Handelsblatt. The biggest European telecoms operator by revenue has acknowledged that it hired an outside firm to track hundreds of thousands of phone calls by senior executives and journalists in 2005 and 2006 to identify sources of leaks to the press.
■ ELECTRONICS
GE to drop appliance unit
General Electric Co CEO Jeffrey Immelt said yesterday that LG Electronics was one of the leading candidates for its appliances unit, which it plans to sell or spin off in an ongoing restructuring plan. Some global companies have shown interest in the business and it would make sense for them to make a bid if they want to expand internationally, Immelt told a group of business leaders in Seoul. The chief executive cited Haier Electronics Group Co of China and Mexico’s Controladora Mabe, a unit of Controladora Comercial Mexicana, as parties who could make bids. Interest has also come from Turkey, he said.
■ ELECTRONICS
Oki may sell chip business
Troubled Japanese electronics maker Oki Electric Industry Co plans to sell its semiconductor business to rival Rohm Co for about ¥100 billion (US$962 million), news reports said yesterday. The two firms, in the final stage of negotiations, were expected to reach a basic agreement and announce the deal as early as yesterday, the Nikkei Shimbun and other local media said. The sale is expected to be completed by December, the Nikkei said. It would be the first major realignment in the domestic semiconductor industry since Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp integrated their system chip operations in 2003, the report said. The two firms both issued statements denying such an agreement had been reached.
■ OIL
SK launches China tie-up
SK Energy Co, South Korea’s biggest oil refiner, said yesterday it would tie up with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) to build a naphtha-cracking center in central China. The facility, which will reportedly cost some US$2 billion, would be built in Wuhan, Hubei Province, SK Energy said, adding the two companies had signed a preliminary agreement in Beijing yesterday. SK Energy will hold a 35 percent stake in the joint venture and the Chinese counterpart will get the remaining 65 percent. When completed in late 2011, the plant will produce 800,000 tonnes of ethylene every year.
■ WORKFORCE
Nationals to replace expats
Headhunters in five emerging markets predict that costly foreign staff will be replaced by locals, returning nationals and regional talent within the next decade, a study said yesterday. Conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), the study gathered responses last month from 62 executive search professionals from China, India, Brazil, Russia and the Middle East. “The global market for senior executives is not completely borderless,” AESC president Peter Felix was quoted by the Business Times as saying. “The fact is that ‘cultural fit’ continues to be a barrier, both for multinational companies hiring locals and for those returning to their home countries to work.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft