■ Commission OKs investments
The Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission yesterday approved three foreign investments, which will bring US$147.48 million to the nation. It also approved three investments in China worth US$58.44 million. The foreign investment applications were submitted by Denmark-based Honest International Holding (Europe) APS and US mobile-phone maker Motorola Inc, which will add US$44.88 million and US$125.42 million, respectively, to the local market. The major China project is by AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest flat-panel maker, which will inject US$50 million into its Suzhou subsidiary. So far this year the commission has approved 271 foreign investments worth US$413.57 million and 498 local investments in China worth US$701.2 million.
■ China is leading trade partner
China has outgunned the US and Japan to emerge as the nation's leading trade partner, official data showed Tuesday. Cross-strait trade rose 23.8 percent year-on-year to US$46.32 billion last year, the Board of Foreign Trade said in a statement. The amount made up for 17.1 percent of the country's external trade, up 1.7 percent from the previous year, the board said. Imports from China grew 37.9 percent to US$10.96 billion while China-bound shipments in the year rose 20 percent to US$35.36 billion. Taiwan registered a trade surplus of US$24.4 billion, up 13.4 percent year-on-year. The board expects cross-strait trade to continue to boom this year, but warned that the nation's growing reliance on China to boost its economy might hurt it in years to come. The US$35.36 billion worth of shipments to China accounted for 24.5 percent of total exports last year, compared with the 22.6 percent a year earlier, it said.
■ Fixed Network seeks loan
Taiwan Fixed Network Ltd (台灣固網), a fixed-line telephone company, plans to raise up to NT$20 billion (US$601 million) from a loan that it will use to buy back some of its shares, bankers close to the deal said. The company, which owns about 31 percent of the nation's biggest mobile-phone operator Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大), plans to use the loan to buy back shares from some of its shareholders, including Taiwan Cellular, which owns 9.7 percent of Taiwan Fixed Network, bankers said. The fixed-line operator would then repay the loan with proceeds from the sale of some of its investments, including its stake in Taiwan Cellular.
■ CKS traffic increasing
The number of passengers and the volume of cargo handled at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport has been growing every year since its operations began 25 years ago, except for last year which saw outbreaks of SARS, according to airport statistics. The airport began operations on Feb. 26, 1979, receiving a little more than 4 million passengers that year. The figure rose topped 10 million in 1990 and peaked at 19.22 million in 2002 -- the largest number of passengers ever seen by the airport. But the number of passengers using the airport dropped to 15.51 million last year. The volume of cargo dealt with by the airport registered an all-time high of over 1.5 billion kilograms last year, an astounding jump from its first-year level of 117 million kilograms.
■ NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.030 to close at NT$33.323 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$763.5 million.
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