Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to expropriate a Toyota plant because the local managers refuse to build all-terrain vehicles.
Chavez, speaking at a public event late on Wednesday, also issued a warning to Ford, General Motors and Fiat, who also have assembly plants in Venezuela.
“I immediately order an inspection of the Toyota plant, to see why they do not want to build all-terrain vehicles,” Chavez said.
“We have to force them, and if not they can leave and we’ll bring in another company,” he said.
“The Chinese want to come, the Chinese make the all-terrain,” he said.
Chavez asked for a minimum quota of Toyota all-terrain vehicles built in Venezuela, and threatened to expropriate their plant if they refused to comply.
“Let’s suppose those people [from Toyota] don’t want to. Well, we’ll tell them to leave, this is our house. And we’ll take those same warehouses and factories, we’ll pay them whatever they are worth, we aren’t going to rob anyone, and then we’ll quickly call the Chinese,” he said.
The Venezuelan leader on Wednesday delivered autos imported from Argentina “without intermediaries” that were sold at affordable prices and distributed through a new network of “socialist” outlets.
In related news. Toyota is recalling about 43,000 cars in China because of a defect that may cause engine oil to leak, a company spokesman said yesterday.
The recall affects the Lexus ES 350, the Lexus RX 350, the Highlander and the Previa minivan.
It comes months after Toyota announced its biggest ever recall in China, affecting about 688,000 vehicles, because of a defect in the electric window system.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national