■TELECOMS
Deutsche mulls asset swap
Deutsche Telekom, the biggest German telecommunications operator, is looking to swap its lossmaking T-Mobile unit in Britain for an asset in another country, the Financial Times (FT) reported yesterday. FT quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying a swap was considered a “preferred option” to selling the unit outright or merging it with a British rival. Deutsche Telekom is active in 15 countries in the region, including Austria and Greece, the report said.
■INTEREST RATES
Indonesia cuts rates
Indonesia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 percent yesterday in a bid to stimulate the economy as inflationary pressures ease. The cut was expected after the annual inflation rate dropped to 3.65 percent last month from 6.04 percent in May. Bank Indonesia said the economy would grow by between 3 percent and 4 percent this year, compared with 6.1 percent last year. Bank Indonesia has cut its policy rate by 275 basis points since December.
■BANKING
Merkel urges tough reform
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned yesterday that governments would fight off any attempt by banks to water down tough reforms of financial regulations. “There is perhaps a certain danger that banks which are doing quite well again might try to not exactly support the regulation efforts, but to put them in doubt again,” Merkel told the Wall Street Journal Europe in an interview. “I don’t see that they have a chance of succeeding, either with the American administration, nor in the European Union,” she said.
■AUTOMOBILES
China to revise Opel offer
China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC, 北京汽車工業) was expected to submit a revised offer yesterday for Opel, the European subsidiary of General Motors, German newspaper reports said. A binding offer is expected to follow in the next two weeks, BAIC executives reportedly told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Other contenders in the bidding process are a consortium based around Canadian car assembly group Magna, as well as RJH, the European subsidiary of US investors Ripplewood.
■MINING
BHP sells nickel refinery
BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, said yesterday it had agreed to sell an Australian nickel refinery to Australian businessman Clive Palmer for an undisclosed sum. However, the Anglo-Australian group said it had written down the value of the refinery in Queensland by US$675 million. “Communications with our workforce, suppliers, customers and the community will begin immediately and will continue over the coming weeks to facilitate a smooth transition to the new owner,” Jimmy Wilson, president of BHP Billiton Stainless Steel Materials, said in a statement.
■ELECTRONICS
Siemens helps fight crime
Making up for its past misdeeds, Siemens is to help pay for anti-corruption campaigns by the UN and other bodies, the German electronics group said on Thursday in Munich. The company will provide up to US$7 million annually for 15 years to help prevent corruption. Siemens, which has admitted that for years its executives bribed their way to contracts for telephone exchanges and other multimillion-dollar projects, said the undertaking was made to the World Bank in Washington.
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
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
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
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the