■ ECONOM
Japan’s GDP growth higher
Japan raised its reading for economic growth in the first quarter, due mainly to a stronger-than-expected increase in capital investment. Japan’s GDP in the January to March period grew at an annual pace of 4 percent, up from a preliminary reading of 3.3 percent, revised figures released yesterday by the Cabinet Office showed. On a quarterly basis, GDP grew a revised 1 percent. Growth in capital expenditures was a key factor in the revised GDP figures. They posted a 0.2 percent quarterly rise, markedly better than a preliminary reading of a 0.9 decline, the government said.
■PRODUCTION
Chavez favors cooperation
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is encouraging Venezuela’s private sector to work with his government to create new businesses and factories that would produce consumer goods. The socialist president said he was open to joint ventures with private companies in “non-strategic” areas of the economy. He gave no other details. Chavez on Tuesday said he hoped the cooperation would spur growth, which hit a four-year low of 4.8 percent in the first quarter. Annual inflation in the oil-rich country reached 29.3 percent in April. Chavez has nationalized the country’s largest steel, cement and electricity companies in the last two years.
■MANUFACTURING
Beijing slaps toy factories
Beijing has revoked the export licenses of 700 toy factories over safety failings, state media reported yesterday, after a series of high-profile scandals hit the image of Chinese goods overseas. Beijing launched a massive campaign to inspect all 3,540 toy firms with export permits last August after tens of millions of Chinese-made toys were recalled globally over design or manufacturing flaws. It barred 700 firms — nearly one in five — from exporting because they failed to meet safety standards, the China Daily quoted a senior safety official as saying. China exported about 22 billion toys globally every year, a quarter of which went to Europe, the China Daily said.
■FOREX
China eyes US portfolio
China’s foreign exchange regulator is to invest more than US$2.5 billion in the latest portfolio launched by US private equity fund TPG, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The fund that China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) plans to invest in is worth US$17 billion, the report said, citing unnamed sources. The administration manages the bulk of China’s US$1.76 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. SAFE has kept a low investment profile but previously built up small stakes in French oil giant Total and British energy giant BP, earlier media reports said.
■TAKEOVERS
Distributor mulls Staples deal
The Dutch office supplies distributor Corporate Express NV said yesterday it would recommend a 9.25 euros per share takeover bid by Staples Inc to shareholders, reversing an earlier plan to merge with a French competitor. The boards of Corporate Express said they decided to endorse the Staples deal after the US company raised its offer for the fourth time to 9.25 euros per share. Including Corporate Express debt, the offer values the company at about 3.1 billion euros (US$4.8 billion), the companies said in a joint statement. The companies said they “have agreed on a number of key issues with regard to strategy, employees and integration process.”
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