■ 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.
‘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
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
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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