■Semiconductors
Infineon in joint venture
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker, formed a joint venture with China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Venture Co (CSVC) to install and test computer chips as part of its plan to expand in Asia. The two companies will build a plant near Shanghai and start production in 2005, the company said in a statement to the Frankfurt exchange. Infineon will own 73 per-cent of the venture and CSVC will hold the rest. The joint venture will invest about US$1 billion over the next 10 years, Infineon said.
■ Finance
ECB sheds US agency debt
The European Central Bank (ECB) is selling all the bonds it owns in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two biggest US providers of mortgage financing, and recommended that its national central banks do the same, according to a person who has seen the ECB's recommendation. The Frankfurt-based central bank gave its opinion at the last meeting of the 18-member governing council on July 10, said the person who declined to be named. Freddie Mac is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors after under-stating earnings, leading to the ouster of its top three managers.
■ Internet
Bertelsmann suit delayed
Bertelsmann AG's lawsuit over its investment in music-sharing service Napster Inc can't start yet because a German court ruled against a US com-plaint, the Financial Times Deutschland said, without saying where it obtained the information. The court said a US$17 billion compensa-tion claim filed in the US wasn't valid in Germany, the paper reported. According to US law, an approval of the claim by the German court is a condition for opening the trial, the paper reported. The rejection of the claim by the German court only refers to Guetersloh, Germany-based Bertelsmann AG and not to its US units BeMusic Inc and Bertelsmann Inc, which are also being sued.
■ Tourism
Japanese staying home
The number of Japanese passengers going to other Asian countries has still slumped as fears of SARS have not gone away, the Kyodo News reported yesterday, quoting Japan Airlines System Corp president Isao Kaneko as saying. "European and US routes are recovering significantly with the effects of the Iraq war faded," Kaneko was quoted as saying in a recent interview. "In Asia, business passen-gers are returning fairly quickly," he said, "but the return of tour groups, comprising a large portion of 70 percent [of total passengers], is slow." In May, the airline projected a group net loss of Japanese Yen 43 billion (US$364 million) and a pre-tax loss of Japanese Yen 22 billion on projected revenues of Japanese Yen 2 trillion for this fiscal year.
■ Toilets
Toto eyes Chinese seats
Japan's largest toilet maker Toto said yesterday it would sell luxury lavatories in China by the end of this month and in the US from September to meet growing demand. The company will sell the top-notch loos, which have no cistern, in Shanghai and Beijing, targeting initial monthly sales of 200 units at Japanese Yen 330,000 apiece (US$2,800), and increasing to between 400 and 500 next year. Toto will begin selling its toilets in the US for about Japanese Yen 470,000 each.
Agencies
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
Taiwan yesterday said it was looking forward to attending an upcoming memorial in Japan to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, a day after the Japanese city said it had retracted its previous decision to not invite Taiwan to the event. The case has been dealt with by Taiwan’s representative office in Fukuoka and the Nagasaki City Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry would decide who to send to the Aug. 9 event once it receives the invitation, it added. The ministry made the remarks following a Japanese media report on Saturday that said Nagasaki Mayor
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
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