■TELECOMS
India blocking imports: PRC
A trade industry group in China said yesterday India had been blocking purchases of telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies for several months. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products said it had received complaints from domestic telecoms equipment makers and has contacted several government agencies over the issue. India’s decision to block the purchases of telecoms products from China was based on national security grounds, the Financial Times reported yesterday. “Proposals for procurement of equipment from Chinese original equipment manufacturing vendors have not been recommended due to security concerns,” India’s Department of Telecommunications said this week, in correspondence to the prime minister’s office seen by the newspaper. “Therefore, the proposals from the service providers for purchase of Chinese equipment are turned down.” The practice has sparked complaints from Beijing and is causing havoc for mobile operators in India, which need huge amounts of equipment to support an industry that is adding 20 million new users a month, the report said.
■RETAIL
Metro posts Q1 pretax profit
Germany’s Metro, the third-largest global retail chain, said yesterday that first-quarter sales and pretax profit edged higher owing to a pick-up in many of its markets. Metro’s sales gained 2.3 percent year-on-year to 5.5 billion euros (US$20.5 billion), a statement said. Pretax profit reached 4 million euros, compared with a loss of 117 million euros in the first three months of last year, but the group did not provide a net figure, which is likely to have remained in the red. It did report a loss of 0.05 euro per share, a figure that was nonetheless better than the 0.30 euro per share loss a year earlier.
■OIL
Total’s Q1 profit jumps 14%
French oil company Total SA said yesterday quarterly profit jumped 14 percent thanks to higher crude prices and a return to production growth during the period. Total’s net profit grew to 2.61 billion euros in the first quarter, up from 2.29 billion euros a year earlier. France’s largest company by market capitalization said its combined production of oil and gas rose 4.5 percent in the first quarter to 2.43 million barrels a day. The company credited the lift to a production ramp-up on new fields, as well as lower OPEC cuts and fewer disruptions in Nigeria related to security issues. On an adjusted basis, a closely watched measure of profitability that excludes inventory gains and losses and tax charges and credits, Total’s net profit grew 9 percent in the quarter.
■AIRLINES
ANA posts smaller loss
Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) reported yesterday a net loss of ¥57.4 billion (US$610 million) for the year to March, citing weak air travel demand. The figure was smaller than the firm’s own net loss projection of ¥65 billion announced in March. ANA’s operating loss reached ¥54.2 billion, compared with an operating profit of ¥7.6 billion a year ago. Sales fell 11.8 percent to ¥1.23 trillion. For the fiscal year ending next March, ANA said it expected to return to the black, forecasting a net profit of ¥5 billion and operating profit of ¥42 on sales of ¥1.36 trillion. Business conditions continue to deteriorate “to an extent not experienced in recent years” because of high oil prices, currency fluctuations and Japan’s falling consumer prices, ANA said in a statement.
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