■GAS
Gazprom opens Belarus taps
Russia’s gas monopoly said yesterday it is resuming supplies to Belarus now that it has paid a US$200 million bill. The Kremlin said Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas company, has told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev the company would resume supplies to Belarus. Belarus said on Wednesday it had paid the debt to Russia, but demanded in return that Moscow pay what it claims is a US$260 million debt for transit of gas to the West. Belarus has threatened to cut transit of Russian gas yesterday if Moscow doesn’t pay up. Miller told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday that the dispute arose after Belarus had demanded that Gazprom pay a higher transit fee than agreed in the contract. Putin said Gazprom must pay for transit in accordance with the contract, Russian news agencies reported.
■AUTOMAKERS
Ford to build Thailand plant
Ford Motor Co said yesterday it would spend US$450 million to build a new plant in Thailand, giving a much-needed boost to an economy reeling from deadly political unrest. Ford said the factory in Rayong, about 150km southeast of Bangkok, would employ up to 2,200 workers with production scheduled to begin in 2012, starting with the next-generation Ford Focus. It will have an initial output capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, mostly for export, boosting Thailand’s efforts to be a regional hub for car production.
■JAPAN
Trade growth disappoints
Japan logged a smaller-than-expected rise in its trade surplus last month as the slowest export growth in five months signaled that a trade-dependent recovery may be losing steam, data showed yesterday. Exports for the world’s second-largest economy rose 32.1 percent to ¥5.31 trillion (US$59 billion), the sixth consecutive monthly rise, but the increase was below market expectations of 37 percent. The trade surplus reached ¥324.2 billion last month, the 12th straight month of improvement on year-earlier levels but below economists’ forecasts of more than ¥450 billion.
■SOUTH KOREA
Growth projection raised
South Korea yesterday raised its economic growth projection for this year to 5.8 percent, up from 5 percent, reflecting growing confidence about its solid economic recovery. The revised outlook matches a forecast laid out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which said in a six-monthly report that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is projected to grow 5.75 percent this year. GDP is forecast to grow 4.5 percent in the second half after 8.1 percent and 6.3 percent advances in the first and second quarters, the finance ministry said. It forecast next year’s growth at about 5 percent.
■NEW ZEALAND
GDP grows a fourth quarter
New Zealand’s economy grew 0.6 percent in the three months to March, marking the fourth straight quarter of growth following a long recession, official figures showed yesterday. The rise in GDP in the latest quarter compared with the previous three months followed revised growth of 0.9 percent in the last quarter of last year, Statistics New Zealand said. Economic activity in the first quarter was 1.9 percent higher than the same period a year earlier.
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