■ Entertainment
China attacks video game
China has banned a Swedish-made computer game for "distorting history" by depicting Tibet and other Chinese territories as independent countries. Hearts of Iron, set in World War II, is the latest in a series of foreign computer games to run afoul of China's government by clashing with its official history. The game, made by Paradox Entertainment of Stockholm, depicts Tibet, Manchuria and the Xinjiang region of China's northwest as independent and Taiwan as a Japanese colony, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday. Hearts of Iron was banned for "distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said a Ministry of Culture order quoted by Xinhua. China ordered makers this month to submit online games for government review, complaining that many are too violent or sexually explicit or threaten national security. In March, censors banned a Norwegian computer game that they said damaged China's reputation by depicting a mercenary conducting sabotage on its territory and shooting at Chinese soldiers.
■ Tourism
Singapore gets new flights
Tourist-hungry Singapore beefed up its air links with China yesterday as a fifth passenger airline from China started flights to the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state. Shandong Airlines flew its maiden international flight into Singapore's Changi Airport in the afternoon, a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said. It will be followed by a twice-weekly service. The frequency of flights to Singapore from China has mushroomed in recent years as the country's economy booms and its millions of citizens are more able to stretch their wings. China's government has made it easier for Chinese to get passports and foreign currency, and it has increased the number of approved destinations for Chinese tour parties. Additionally, many countries have eased restrictions on visas for Chinese nationals.
■ Entertainment
Chinese kids to get moral TV
China is ordering its television stations to launch children's channels with wholesome, educational programs in a campaign to clean up what communist leaders regard as unhealthy Western-influenced popular culture. Each provincial-level station is to create such a channel by 2007 to help improve "ideological and moral standards" for China's 367 million children, the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. Broadcasters were told this month to have announcers stop mixing English words into their Chinese and to drop programs that promote "Western ideology."
■ Telecoms
Vietnam to lay new cable
Vietnam will lay a new fiber-optic cable to Hong Kong to avoid a repeat of this week's chaos when more than 300,000 Internet subscribers were affected by a damaged underwater line, state media said. Nguyen Huu Khanh, director of Vietnam Telecom International, said in the Tuoi Tre daily that Prime Minister Phan Van Khai had given the green light to the US$150-million project. A new cable would also be built to Singapore later, he said. The country is currently connected to Hong Kong and Thailand by two cables. But on Monday, damage to the cable near Hong Kong caused havoc for more than 300,000 Internet subscribers. Internet traffic was partially restored Wednesday via an alternative network. FPT Communications said the damaged cable would take at least 10 days to fix.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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