■WTO
Zoellick meets with Chinese
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick opened meetings yesterday with Chinese trade officials in an effort to further prise open the market for American farmers, 14 months after Beijing joined the WTO. Facilitating China's accession to the WTO had been a priority in the first year of President George W. Bush's administration, Zoellick said in a statement ahead of the Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 visit. The US trade chief said China had made important progress in reforming its economy but he had concerns that in some areas, particularly agriculture, Americans were not getting the access China promised and which the WTO mandates. According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the Chinese side will hold consultations with Zoellick over bilateral and multilateral trade issues, the official Xinhua news agency said.
■ Credit Rating
Australia raised to AAA
Australia's foreign currency credit rating was raised to AAA from AA+ by Standard & Poor's, which cited the country's string of budget surpluses and falling foreign debt. The outlook on the credit rating is "stable," S&P said. The currency rose after the announcement. Australia's Liberal-National coalition government has delivered four budget surpluses in five from fiscal 1996 to fiscal 2001. The upgrade comes almost four years after S&P last raised Australia's foreign-rating currency, and puts S&P on the same level as Moody's Investors Services, which raised the rating in October, 2002. Australia's has had a AAA local-currency rating from S&P since July 1992, according to Bloomberg data. "It's a reason to support the Australian dollar in the short-term," said Chris Loong, Sydney-based manager of foreign exchange hedging at AMP Henderson Global Investors, which has about US$155 billion under investment.
■ Chip Equipment
Global sales up 14 percent
Worldwide sales of chipmaking equipment rose in December, the fourth straight gain after 18 months of declines, an industry group said. The rise may signal a recovery in global chip demand is under way. Chip equipment sales rose 13.9 percent in December from the same month a year earlier to US$1.82 billion, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Demand for equipment is rebounding as chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co expand production capacity. Samsung, the world's No. 1 maker of memory chips, will surpass Intel Corp as the biggest buyer of chip equipment this year, based on their spending forecasts for this year. Global chip sales will probably increase 12 percent this year to about US$174 billion after gaining 1.4 percent last year, according to market researcher Dataquest Inc.
■ Internet
Agere make traffic chip
Agere Systems Inc, the unprofitable semiconductor maker spun off from Lucent Technologies Inc, said it developed the fastest chip to direct information across computer networks and the Internet. Agere's US$295 APP540, one-fourth the size of a credit card, performs the functions of two or three chips from competitors, uses less power and is cheaper, said Rob Munoz, Agere's product marketing manager. KT Corp, South Korea's largest telephone company, plans to build a new nationwide network based on equipment that runs on the APP540 chips, Munoz said.
Agencies
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
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