■ Industry
India to regulate steel price
India's steel ministry plans to set up a regulator to oversee prices and prevent any shortage, the Sunday Express said, citing Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. The regulator will have representatives from the government, steel producers and consumers, the New Delhi report said. Paswan will seek government approval for the plan in three months, the paper said. The regulator is being set up after prices of steel and raw materials such as iron ore and coal surged to a record, raising concern some steelmakers created an artificial shortage, the paper said.
■ Auto Trade
Sales targets slashed
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors will slash its domestic sales target for the year to March 2005 by 27 percent as a series of scandals continues to turn away customers, a report said yesterday. Mitsubishi will cut its domestic unit sales target to 220,000 from 300,000 units projected in May, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The projected sales drop will trim revenue by US$909 million and cut operating profits by millions of dollars, the paper said. The automaker had forecast in May that it would post sales in the year to March 2005 of US$2 billion, a recurring loss of US$1.37 billion and a net loss of US$2.11 billion.
■ Aviation
Airbus parts made in China
European aircraft maker Airbus has subcontracted a state-owned Chinese manufacturer to make parts for its super-jumbo A380 plane in a deal worth US$100 million, the company said yesterday. China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I) will make panels for A380 nose landing gear in terms of a deal signed Saturday in Paris during a visit by Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan (曾培炎), Airbus said in a statement on its Web site. "This has been the first time for Airbus to involve China in producing A380 components," the statement said. The A380 aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2006.
■ International
Conference discusses oil
Oil industry policy-makers and senior executives will meet in Malaysia this week for an international conference to discuss political and economic developments, including soaring crude oil prices. Purnomo Yusgiantoro, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Iraq's Oil Minister Thamir Ghadbhan are among more than 800 delegates scheduled to attend the Asian Oil and Gas Conference that runs in Kuala Lumpur for two days starting today. The delegates will discuss "strategies for new ventures and development, innovations in trading and risk management and financing and new technology options," organizer Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned oil company, said in a statement.
■ Technology
Hynix sells operations to US
South Korea's struggling Hynix Semiconductor said yesterday it had signed a provisional contract to sell its non-memory chip operations to a unit of US financial giant Citigroup. The world's third-largest memory chip maker said the contract was signed on Saturday with Citigroup Venture Capital, which has offered to buy the operations for US$830 million. The deal, the biggest sale of assets since Hynix launched a sweeping restructuring program two years ago, is expected to help the South Korean firm focus more on its core memory chip business.
‘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
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
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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