■Auto sales
Japan may have slump
Sales in Japan of new vehicles, excluding minivehicles, are likely to fall below 4 million vehicles this year for the first time in three years, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Sales are expected to fall by 2 percent to 3.96 million this year as sales of luxury cars and trucks have declined on slow corporate demand, the paper said, citing its own survey. Sales of cars with engines of at least 2L will fall about 10 percent, the paper said. Subcompact car sales will increase and are forecast to account for more than 60 percent of total vehicle sales, the report said. Japan's domestic auto sales will rise 0.7 percent to 5.85 million vehicles next year from an estimated 5.81 million next year, the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association said this month.
■ Brewers
Guinness faces restrictions
Carlsberg Brewery-Malaysia Bhd, Guinness Anchor Bhd and other brewers will be restricted in staging production promotions in restaurants in the Malaysian state of Selangor, the New Straits Times reported, citing a statement from state authorities. The brewers have been directed to halt all marketing promotions for the next three months, while authorities check which establishments have government approval for those activities, the paper said, citing state officials Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan and Ch'ng Toh-eng. Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country.
■ Retailers
Seibu to sell jewelry unit
Seibu Department Stores Ltd, a closely held Japanese retailer, will sell a jewelry retailer and two clothing units to reduce its Japanese Yen 580 billion (US$4.8 billion) of debt, Nikkei English News reported. The jewelry unit, J. Osawa & Co, which also sells golf equipment, and the two clothing units, one which buys overseas items, will be sold by the end of January, Nikkei reported, without citing anyone. Seibu has more than Japanese Yen 40 billion in loan guarantees to the three companies, the report said. Seibu is trying to reduce debt as it prepares to combine operations with failed department store operator Sogo Co Ltd and has held talks with its creditors to try and garner their financial support.
■ Agriculture
Chickens get flu in HK
Hong Kong health authorities slaughtered 16,000 chickens at a farm and closed the wholesale market at Cheung Sha Wan after bird flu virus was found in dead chickens. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement that it's keeping surveillance on 14 other chicken farms in the New Territories, the area adjacent to China. It said chicken shipments from China to the wholesale market have been halted, and live chicken sales in retail markets won't be resumed until Jan. 1.
■ Free trade
Mexico to offer farm aid
Mexican government officials will meet today with farm representatives to draft an aid package for farmers, in a bid to avert protests Jan. 1 over the lowering of trade barriers with the US and Canada. The government will offer subsidies and cheaper credit to alleviate farmers' concerns that they will be at a competitive disadvantage to bigger US producers when tariffs on 12 products are dropped at yearend, said an Agriculture Ministry official. The tariffs and quotas are falling under the 1994 North American FTA.
Agencies
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
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