■ China
Avon to buy out partner
US direct sales giant Avon is set to buy out its Chinese joint venture partner for US$50 million, making the cosmetic manufacturer a solely owned foreign-funded enterprise in China, state press said yesterday. Avon will buy the 20 percent share of Avon (China) Co Ltd in its Guangzhou-based partner Masson Co Ltd, upon government approval, the China Daily reported. Avon, the world's leading direct-sales cosmetics group, currently holds a 75 percent stake in the joint venture, with the additional 5 percent owned by private investors, the report said. Avon has been banned from direct sales in China since the government outlawed door-to-door sales practices in 1998 due to fraud and abuses such as pyramid schemes at other companies involved in the practice.
■ Tax
Airline gets big bill
National carrier Air New Zealand said yesterday it was given an unexpected tax bill from Hong Kong authorities for NZ$47 million (US$31 million), but will appeal the assessment. Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department revised its tax assessment for the airline's Hong Kong subsidiary, New Zealand International Airlines, and said the parent company owes back taxes for the period between 1989 to 2002. A further NZ$60 million (US$39 million) could be added to the bill if the 2003 and 2004 tax years are reassessed, the carrier said in a statement. Air New Zealand said it had relied on professional advice from leading accounting firms about Hong Kong's tax law, and would challenge the reassessment.
■ Foreign exchange
China's reserves static
China's foreign exchange reserves showed no increase last month for the first time since the government started publishing statistics on monthly growth, the central bank said yesterday. The nation's foreign exchange reserves were US$415.7 billion at the end of February, unchanged compared to the end of January, according to the People's Bank of China. The figure was released after China recorded a rare trade deficit of US$7.9 billion last month, its largest in nearly a decade. It is the first time that China has not recorded monthly growth in foreign exchange reserves since the central bank started to release monthly figures on its Web site in January 2000. This, however, excludes a steep drop in reserves at the end of last year, when US$45 billion was taken out of the reserves for a capital injection into two state-run banks.
■ Cards
Japan gets electronic wallet
East Japan Railway Co (JR East) said yesterday it had launched a new version of its high-tech "Suica" rail pass that can be used as an electronic wallet at rail stores in Tokyo and the northern city of Sendai. The railway, which covers 17 provinces in eastern and northern Japan, is the first in the country to offer a rail pass as a prepaid shopping card at 196 stores at 64 JR East stations. Up to ¥20,000 (US$186) can be stored on the card at any one time, with transactions at stores generating a fee for the railway. The railway plans to extend use of the card to 500 stores and 200 stations by the middle of the year and 1,000 stores by March next year, said JR East spokesman Kazushi Masuya. "Unfortunately we do not have any forecast of how much revenue this will generate because we don't know how many customers will use it," he added.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
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