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.
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS