■TRADE
India, S Korea ink pac
gned a free trade deal yesterday that a minister said had the potential to nearly double the more than US$15 billion in annual trade between Asia’s third and fourth-biggest economies in the next decade. The deal requires ratification by South Korea’s parliament, but can take effect without further steps by India, South Korea’s trade ministry said. The deal will eliminate tariffs on three quarters of India’s imports from South Korea by value, and more than 80 percent of South Korea’s imports from India.
■ECONOMY
‘Free fall’ over, ECB says
The world’s economic “free fall” is over but “uncertainty” still remains, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet told RTL radio yesterday. “We are still in a period of contraction of the economic activity,” Trichet said. “We are coming out of the period of free fall.” But he warned against being too optimistic. “The zone of uncertainty in which we have been since the crisis intensified in mid-September 2008 is not yet behind us,” he said.
■BANKING
DBS profits slump
Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd said yesterday that profit in the second quarter fell 15 percent from a year earlier as bad debt charges jumped amid a sluggish regional economic recovery. DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, reported earnings of S$552 million (US$384 million) for the three months ended June 30, down from a profit of S$652 million in the same period last year. The bank said it took allowances for loans and other losses of S$466 million for the second quarter, up from S$56 million a year ago.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo to invest in solar
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday that it would boost its solar panel production capacity by 30 percent within the next two years to meet surging demand fueled by government subsidies. Sanyo will invest about ¥4.2 billion (US$44 million) in a domestic plant in Shiga Prefecture to double the facility’s annual production capacity to 200,000 kilowatts, company spokeswoman Kumiko Makino said. In total, Sanyo’s solar panel production capacity will rise to 450,000 kilowatts, she said.
■INSURANCE
Allianz 2Q profit advances
German insurer Allianz SE said yesterday its second quarter net profit rose 21 percent as its life and health insurance business improved and said it was adjusting to the “new normal” of reduced returns. The Munich-based company said it made 1.9 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in the April-June period, up from 1.5 billion euros in the second quarter of last year. Revenues for the quarter were slightly higher at 22.2 billion euros, compared with last year’s 21.5 billion euros.
■BANKING
Top official resigns
Societe Generale SA says that a top executive whose career was damaged by the French bank’s multibillion dollar trading scandal last year has resigned. Jean-Pierre Mustier is the former head of corporate and investment banking and one-time boss of disgraced trader Jerome Kerviel. Societe Generale SA said in a statement on Wednesday that Mustier and Robert Day, a board member, were told by the financial watchdog AMF that its sanctions committee was opening an insider trading inquiry.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘NOT SUBORDINATE’: Only Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, and people preserving their democratic way of life is not a provocation, President William Lai said Taiwan does not want China’s “one country, two systems,” and must uphold its freedom and democracy as well as resolve to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, rejecting Beijing’s latest bid to bring the country under Chinese control. The president made the remarks while attending a commissioning ceremony for Taiwan’s first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The tanks are made by General Dynamics, a major US defense contractor. China this week said it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media
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