■TRADE
Japan’s surplus shrinks
Japan’s current account surplus shrank year-on-year in June, its second straight month of decline, with the income surplus lower despite a higher trade balance. The surplus in the current account — the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world — dropped 18.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥1.047 trillion (US$16 billion) in June, the Ministry of Finance said. Analysts had expected a 1.5 percent increase to ¥1.299 trillion. The trade surplus in June jumped 26.6 percent to ¥769 billion on robust exports to Asia, but the surplus in the income account nearly halved to ¥462 billion, reflecting the poorer performance of Japanese overseas investments.
■AUTOMOBILES
China’s auto sales slow
Growth in China’s auto sales slowed last month from the previous month, an industry group said yesterday, as demand for vehicles in the world’s biggest market continued to soften. Total vehicle sales rose 14.4 percent year-on-year to 1.24 million units last month, the first time this year that the growth rate was below 20 percent, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on its Web site. In June, sales grew 23.5 percent from a year earlier. The data also marks the fourth straight month that month-on-month sales have braked after hitting a record high of 1.74 million units in March, as economic growth slows and authorities reduce subsidies for purchases of small cars. Passenger car sales rose 13.6 percent from a year earlier to 946,200 units last month, the industry group said.
■REAL ESTATE
Shanghai house sales fall
New home sales in Shanghai fell 11 percent in the week ended Aug. 8 from the previous week to 137,000m², property consultant Shanghai UWin Real Estate Information Services Co said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. New home prices gained 10 percent to 23,242 yuan (US$3,434) per square meter last week, the real estate data company said. The supply of homes fell 36 percent to 97,000m², it said.
■INVESTMENT
China buys Japanese debt
China bought US$5.3 billion worth of Japanese debt in June, Japan’s Ministry of Finance said yesterday, as Beijing further surpasses its previous full-year buying record. For the first half of the year, China bought ¥1.73 trillion worth of debt, nearly seven times the full-year record of ¥253.8 billion in 2005. China has sought to diversify its vast investments away from the US dollar and Europe since the onset of the financial crisis. Most of the bonds bought by China are thought to be used by the government to manage its foreign reserves.
■ECONOMY
Growth predicted for France
The Bank of France forecast yesterday that the French economy would expand by 0.3 percent in the third quarter, following growth of 0.4 percent in the previous quarter. In June, the French statistics bureau INSEE said that GDP would expand by 0.5 percent in the second quarter, a boost for the economy which showed weak growth of 0.1 percent in the first quarter. INSEE is expected to publish on Friday its growth figures for the second quarter. The rebound should continue “at a slow pace” with quarterly growth in the region of 0.4 percent in the second half of this year, INSEE said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source