■ Electronics
Sony to stop making CRTs
Sony Corp plans to discontinue producing television picture tubes in Japan as early as next year, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Sony, the world's largest maker of television sets, will shift production of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) to the US and China, the report said. Sony will then import them, while increasing production of flat-panel televisions domestically, the paper said. The company currently produces CRTs in Gifu and Aichi prefectures, and doesn't plan to close factories or fire workers when it shifts production overseas, the paper said. Sony produced about 10 million television tubes and 160,000 flat-panel televisions in the fiscal year ended in March, the paper said.
■ Automobiles
China makes BMWs
The first Chinese-made BMW cars went on sale this weekend, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, in another sign of the country's growing manufacturing sophistication and surging demand for luxury goods. The BMW 325Is, manufactured at the company's joint-venture plant in the northeastern city of Shenyang, are priced at 473,850 yuan (US$57,786), about 200,000 yuan (US$24,390) less than the imported version, Xinhua said in a report late Saturday. While that's an astronomical sum for most Chinese, who earn about US$700 annually on average, it is within the reach of many in the growing ranks of state company managers, entrepreneurs, entertainers and others who have benefited from economic reforms enacted over the past two decades.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
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
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
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