■ FOREX
Beijing's reserves top region
China’s foreign exchange reserves rose to US$1.76 trillion at the end of April, the China Business News reported yesterday, reaching a level higher than the rest of Northeast Asia’s combined. China’s reserves, by far the largest in the world, expanded by another US$74.5 billion during April, the paper reported, equivalent to about US$100 million every hour. At US$1.76 trillion, China’s reserves are now larger than those of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong combined. The growth in reserves came amid rising official concern about a fresh surge in hot money — or speculative inflows — spurred by a strengthening yuan and a widening spread between falling US interest rates and rising Chinese rates. The increase in reserves was roughly three times larger than the trade surplus and the value of incoming foreign direct investment — the two traditional sources of reserve growth. This led analysts to conclude that perhaps as much as US$50 billion entered the economy in the form of hot money. “This [figure] seems to suggest the inflow of hot money is speeding up,” the newspaper quoted Logan Wright, an analyst with Stone and McCarthy Research Associates, as saying.
■ AVIATION
Oil prices savaging earnings
Airlines worldwide may report a collective loss of at least US$2.3 billion this year as spiraling fuel costs and a slowing economy wipe out earnings, the industry’s main trade group said. The new outlook, based on oil at US$107 a barrel and issued yesterday at the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting in Istanbul, marks the fourth cut in projected earnings in nine months. The group had forecast net income of US$4.5 billion as recently as April 1. “It’s another perfect storm,” IATA chief executive officer Giovanni Bisignani said at the meeting. “The spreading impact of the US credit crunch is slowing traffic growth. Skyrocketing oil prices are changing everything.” Geneva-based IATA’s membership includes about 230 carriers representing more than 93 percent of international airline traffic.
■ AVIATION
Berlin exhibitors happy
The Berlin Air Show (ILA) drew 241,000 visitors over its six days, and contracts worth some 5 billion euros (US$7.8 billion) were agreed to, the organizers said after the show ended on Sunday. The majority of the 1,100 exhibitors from 37 countries were satisfaction with their success at the show. The ILA saw 300 aircraft displayed on the ground or taking to the skies, with the star of the show the Airbus A380. Also on view were the two biggest series-production planes ever made, the Antonov An 124 and C-5 Galaxy. Established in Frankfurt in 1909, the ILA is one of the world’s oldest aviation trade shows.
■ ENERGY
Jakarta pushes coal exports
Indonesia, the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, will not cap coal exports because the government wants to take advantage of record prices. “Coal export must be maintained for the country to earn foreign exchange,” Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday in a speech at the Coaltrans Asia conference in Nusa Dua, Bali. “We encourage producers to maintain production level that can meet domestic and export demand.” Prices of coal used in power stations have more than doubled in a year and last week reached a record US$151.70 a tonne at Australia’s Newcastle port, the global COAL NEWC Index said.
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