Japan’s electronics makers warned yesterday they were bracing for uncertainty as the global financial crisis chips away at their major markets in the US and Europe.
Sony Corp president Ryoji Chubachi said he was closely watching market conditions as he showcased the world’s thinnest HD liquid-crystal display (LCD) television — 9mm — at an electronics exhibition near Tokyo.
“For the moment, demand for LCDs is still strong but we don’t know when something will happen. We are carefully watching market levels week by week from China to the US,” he said on the sidelines of the event.
PHOTO: EPA
The Cutting-edge IT Comprehensive Exhibition (CEATEC) opened yesterday for a week-long run bringing together 804 companies showing their goods.
Along with slowing US demand, Japanese companies are also concerned with a strengthening yen as it makes their goods more costly overseas.
“It is an urgent need to have a balanced dollar-yen, euro-yen cost strategy,” Chubachi said. “We want to be prepared for various scenarios ... and be able to take various measures without delay.”
Equity markets across the globe were battered yesterday after the US House of Representatives voted down a US$700 billion bailout plan for the financial sector.
“We would like financial authorities and governments to take whatever measures possible to solve this crisis. The US has challenged itself to solve the crisis in a short period of time. We hope that will be effective,” Chubachi said.
Rival Sharp Corp said it may lower prices as it unveiled its thinnest 22.8mm plasma TV of its Aquos line, which is expected to go on sale worldwide this month.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co spokeswoman Kyoko Ishii said the company behind Panasonic was “very concerned as half of our business depends on overseas.”
“We are watching markets very carefully as the situation may drastically change in the second half,” she 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