■AUSTRALIA
Rio Tinto wants evidence
Rio Tinto Ltd said yesterday it was still unaware of any evidence to justify China’s detention of four employees on spying allegations. Rio, the world’s third-largest mining company, issued a statement yesterday welcoming news that detained Australian citizen Stern Hu (胡士泰) had received a second visit by Australian consular officials since the four were detained more than five weeks earlier. Sam Walsh, Rio Tinto’s chief executive for iron ore, said in the statement that the company remained surprised and concerned about the detentions.
■BANKING
Judge needs more time
A federal judge says he needs more time and additional details before making a decision on a US$33 million settlement between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission over executive bonuses. In a hearing in New York on Monday, US District Judge Jed Rakoff said he was “concerned that we not yet ferreted out all that the court needs to know.” The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank had agreed to pay the fines to settle charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch’s plans to pay executives.
■JAPAN
BOJ holds interest rate
The Japanese central bank yesterday held its rock-bottom interest rates steady to give the world’s No. 2 economy more time to recover from its worst recession in decades. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) said Japan’s economic conditions “have stopped worsening,” but cautioned that much uncertainty remains because of the murky outlook for the global economy. “Public investment is increasing and exports and production are picking up,” the BPJ said in a statement. “On the other hand, business fixed investment is declining sharply mainly reflecting weak corporate profits.”
■SOUTH KOREA
Interest rate unchanged
South Korea’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low yesterday for a sixth straight month and said it was too early to consider raising borrowing costs as the country emerges from its worst slowdown in over a decade. The Bank of Korea kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate at 2 percent at a regular monthly policy meeting. The central bank had slashed the rate six times since early October to help battle the effects of the global financial crisis. The bank’s policy committee said it will stick to its “accommodative policy stance for the time being” — indicating the key interest rate would stay low for now.
■LENDING
New loans dropped in July
China’s new loans last month dropped to less than a quarter of the level seen a month earlier, the central bank said yesterday, as banks reined in the record lending of the first half. New loans dropped sharply to 355.9 billion yuan (US$52 billion) last month from 1.53 trillion yuan in June, the central bank said in a statement. The decline met market expectations that banks would slow their lending pace after new loans surged to 7.37 trillion yuan in the first half of the year.
■RETAIL
Aeon buys Mitsubishi stake
Aeon Co, a Japanese supermarket operator, will take a controlling stake in a Mitsubishi Corp unit that operates a TV and Internet shopping business. Aeon will acquire a 55 percent stake in Digital Direct Inc at the end of this month, the company said in a faxed statement today. It did not disclose the value of the deal.
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
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
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
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2