■ Semiconductors
EU tariffs sought on Hynix
The European Commission plans to bring punitive tariffs against South Korean semiconductor maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc for selling chips below production cost, German business daily Handelsblatt said, citing unidentified people from Trade Commis-sioner Pascal Lamy's office. Hynix has received "bil-lions" worth of subsidies from the South Korean government, allowing the world's third-largest chip maker to sell direct random access memory, or DRAM, semiconductors below production cost, the paper said. A spokesman for Lamy declined to comment, the report said. Industry experts expect a tariff of as much as 30 percent on Hynix's chips, the paper said.
■ Asia
Domestic focus urged
Asia will have to rethink its export-oriented growth formula and look more at domestic consumption if it wants to continue climbing up the economic ladder, a regional economist said yesterday. Against the backdrop of a volatile global economy, Asia will have to rely less on exports which have been the mainstay of the region's economic growth over the past decade, said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong. "The way forward I think is we have to ignite our own consumption revolution in the region," said Hedrick-Wong, an economic advisor to credit card giant MasterCard International. "We must create a much more balanced structure platform for growth in the Asia-Pacific," he said at a briefing in Singapore outlining the challenges facing the region. Citing South Korea, he said the surge in domestic demand had generated positive spin-offs for the economy, particularly in developing the services sector.
■ Telecoms
FCC to let states decide
The US Federal Communi-cations Commission approved new rules to give states more authority over the US$125 billion US local-telephone market, dealing a setback to the Baby Bells and FCC chairman Michael Powell. The FCC voted 3 to 2 for guidelines giving state regulators final say over what parts of local carriers' phone networks must be leased to rivals at discounts. The Bells, whose shares fell, won't have to share new fiber-optic lines for Internet access. The vote undercuts Powell's attempt to enact the biggest changes in phone regulations since the 1996 Telecommunications Act. He wanted the FCC to relax rules forcing the big local carriers to lease equip-ment at discounts, saying they discourage investment. But state regulators argued the low rates spur compe-tition and help companies such as AT&T Corp enter the local market.
■ China
Anti-gum lotion sought
China is developing a chemical weapon, under a project dubbed the "863 Program" by the Ministry of Science and Technology, for deployment in the war on a scourge that blights its public squares -- chewing gum. Eight research insti-tutions have applied for the 1 million yuan (US$120,000) project to come up with a lotion over the next 18 months that will dissolve discarded chewing gum stuck to the ground, the China Daily reported yesterday. The Chinese chew some 2 billion pieces of gum per year, the paper quoted experts as saying, noting that nearly 600,000 globules of gum were discarded in Tiananmen Square during the seven-day National Day holiday last October.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
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