■AUTOMAKERS
Strike hits Toyota plant
Japanese car giant Toyota said it had halted production at an assembly plant in southern China yesterday because of a strike affecting an affiliated auto parts manufacturer, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The walkout at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha), a unit of Toyota-affiliated parts maker Denso Corp, is the latest in a spate of labor disputes to hit foreign companies in China, highlighting discontent among millions of workers. It has forced Toyota to idle two assembly lines at its plant in the city of Guangzhou because of a shortage of fuel-injectors and other components, said the report, which cited Beijing-based Toyota spokesman Hitoshi Yokoyama.
■AIRLINES
BA steps closer to merger
British Airways (BA) PLC said it reached an agreement with trustees of two pension plans, bringing the carrier a step closer to completing a merger with Spain’s Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA. British Airways will contribute £330 million (US$486 million) annually, plus inflation increases averaging 3 percent each year, the London-based carrier said in a Regulatory News Service statement yesterday. The recovery plan helps avoid the closing of New Airways Pension Scheme and Airways Pension Scheme. An agreement is critical to British Airways’s merger with Iberia because the Spanish carrier has the right to pull out of the combination should it find any deal unsatisfactory.
■ECONOMY
Canada growth quickens
Canada’s economy will grow faster this year than previously expected, the finance department announced on Monday, citing new private sector estimates. The near-term outlook has continued to improve since the beginning of March when the government released its last budget, the department said. As a result, the economy is expected to grow by 3.5 percent this year, instead of the 3.1 percent forecast in March, it said. Subsequently, higher growth this year will lead to a hike in Canada’s GDP by about C$24 billion (US$23.4 billion) in 2014. “This suggests that the medium-term fiscal forecast presented in Budget 2010 remains on track,” the department said in a statement.
■RESOURCES
Aussie mines see Asia boost
Powerful growth in Asia will drive Australian exports above A$200 billion (US$177 billion) from this year to next year, as new contracts bring in higher prices for coal and iron ore, officials said yesterday. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said economic growth in Asia was assumed to be largely unaffected by the debt crisis in Europe. Growth in Asia, excluding Japan and South Korea, would average 8.4 percent this year and 8 percent next year, it said. Australian mine production would jump this year and next year, lifting energy and minerals export earnings to A$169.8 billion, an increase of 28.5 percent from last year to this year, the official forecaster said.
■INTERNET
Google under investigation
The attorney-general of Connecticut is looking into whether Google broke the law by capturing people’s personal data from wireless networks while Street View bicycles and cars mapped streets. Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal announced on Monday that his office would lead a multi-state probe of “Google’s deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy,” which has drawn ire and scrutiny in an array of countries.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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