■EUROPE
Bank president gives advice
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned European nations in a newspaper interview yesterday not to rip up the rule books when launching emergency packages to save their economies. While refusing to comment on any specific country’s policies, he told the Financial Times that fiscal indiscipline could threaten already fragile economic confidence and increase nervousness about governments’ funding needs. “We would destroy confidence if we blew up the stability and growth pact,” which sets rules on public deficits and debt, he said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Chair predicts falling sales
Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn predicted world car sales would fall by up to 20 percent next year and said the industry would have to confront “painful” changes, a German newspaper reported on Sunday. Winterkorn said Europe’s biggest car maker would survive the crisis better than others “but the fall could be up to 10 percent for the Volkswagen group,” he told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. He warned that world car industry could see sales fall by “almost 20 percent” next year. “The situation for us is not great but it is not radically bad,” Winterkorn was quoted as saying in advanced excerpts of an interview to be published today.
■HONG KONG
Forum to meet this week
The Financial Stability Forum group of regulators will meet this week in Hong Kong, where they will discuss the global economic crisis and G-20 proposals to prevent a recurrence of the financial turmoil. Finance and central bank officials and regulators from the Asia Pacific region, the Asian Development Bank and other members of the group will meet today and tomorrow, according to a statement by the organization. Officials will also discuss membership expansion, according to the statement. Leaders from the Group of 20 biggest developed and emerging economies last month set a March deadline for recommendations on strengthening accounting standards, derivatives markets and oversight of hedge funds and debt-rating companies.
■EUROPE
Merkel holds summit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under fire over her reaction to the financial crisis, called together business leaders, ministers and experts in Berlin on Sunday to discuss ways of escaping the international recession. The time had come for “us to take joint responsibility, as the government cannot handle the economic situation alone,” Merkel told a press conference before the meeting. Merkel has made defending German jobs a top priority but increasing numbers have been lost in Europe’s biggest economy in recent weeks.
■BANKING
Citigroup inks Dubai deal
Citigroup Inc, the global bank that got a US$45 billion government bailout, “recently” arranged more than US$8 billion of financing for government-owned companies in Dubai. “This is in line with our commitment to the United Arab Emirates’ market in general, and reflects our positive outlook on Dubai in particular,” chairman Win Bischoff said in an e-mailed statement today. The Gulf region is among Citigroup’s “most significant markets” globally and the bank sees “opportunities across all of UAE’s financial sectors,” he said. Citigroup has been operating in the UAE since 1964 and is one of about 50 banks competing for local market share.
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
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
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