■ TRADE
US beef to return to S Korea
South Korea announced it will resume US beef imports from today after negotiating extra safeguards against mad cow disease, despite protests by tens of thousands over recent weeks. Opponents vowed to continue the candlelit rallies, which sparked a political crisis for the new government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Ministers said they have strengthened safety rules since Seoul reached a controversial April agreement to resume most imports after a five-year suspension. New rules on the imports will be posted today in the government gazette, the party said in a statement after meeting senior government officials.
■ MINING
Alcoa may buy into project
Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc announced on Tuesday that it would consider buying a stake in a refinery project with a state-owned minerals development company in Vietnam. Under an agreement with Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, an Alcoa subsidiary will conduct due diligence on buying a 40 percent stake in the proposed Nhan Co alumina refinery. The facility, to be built in Dak Nong Province, would produce 600,000 tonnes per year of alumina. If the transaction goes ahead, Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals will own 40 percent, the Vietnamese company 51 percent and other investors 9 percent of the Nhan Co refinery and bauxite mine.
■ MANAGEMENT
Siemens heads 'too German'
The chief of German industrial group Siemens, Peter Loescher, feels his company’s managers are too German, white and male, he said yesterday in an interview. “The management board are all white males,” the Austrian-born Siemens chief executive told the Financial Times and Financial Times Deutschland. Loescher said his priority this year would be to improve the group’s “cultural diversity,” after spending his first year trying to help it recover from a scandal sparked by widespread corruption. Failing to bring onboard top directors from countries like China and India would make Siemens less competitive, he added, noting: “Our top 600 managers are predominantly white German males. We are too one-dimensional.”
■ ELECTRONICS
Samsung unveils new policy
South Korea’s largest business group Samsung yesterday announced management changes in the wake of a scandal that saw its boss Lee Kun-hee step down. Lee announced in April he was quitting after prosecutors charged him with tax evasion and breach of trust. The strategic planning office, once seen as the “control tower” of the loose-knit group, was scrapped at the same time. A seven-member committee led by a Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Yoon-woo will decide on new projects and coordinate investment by subsidiaries, Samsung said in a statement.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Nokia makes code available
Nokia said on Tuesday that it would make the software that runs its phones available to outside developers, as the company tries to head off competition and stimulate the use of mobile music, video, e-mail and other services. The company will spend 264 million euros (US$411 million), to buy the 52 percent it did not already own in Symbian, whose software runs two-thirds of the world’s smartphones and other advanced mobile devices, said Canalys, a researcher in Reading, England. The adoption of such phones, which include the Apple iPhone, has greatly increased the use of high-speed wireless data networks.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from