■ Oil
Prices rise again in US.
US oil prices struck a fresh record high above US$44 a barrel yesterday, on contin-uing concerns that any hiccup in the tightly stretched supply chain could lead to a major dis-ruption in global crude flows. US crude struck US$44.28 a barrel, US$0.13 up from Tuesday's settle-ment and the highest since oil futures were launched on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. London's Brent crude was US$0.18 higher at US$40.82 a barrel. Oil's latest boost was triggered on Tuesday, when the head of the OPEC producers' cartel said there was no spare oil imme-diately available to cool ed-hot prices.
■ Oil
PetroChina scraps gas plan
A Chinese state oil company has called off plans for a foreign consortium inclu-ding Royal Dutch/Shell and ExxonMobil to invest in a multibillion-dollar pipeline to supply natural gas to China's booming eastern cities, according to Shell. The announcement came as PetroChina Co said its workers on Tuesday welded into place the last segment of the 4,000km-long pipeline that links gas fields in the northwest to Shanghai and nearby cities. The US$5.2 billion pipeline was the first major energy project opened to foreign investors. Shell said the consortium failed to find "common ground" with PetroChina.
■ Banking
Foreign firms' limits eased
China has announced new steps meant to ease the expansion of foreign banks, cutting capital requirements and scrapping a waiting period for opening branch offices. The measures take effect Sept. 1 and will help China comply with inter-national standards, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement issued late on Tuesday. The government has promised to let foreign banks compete on an equal footing with Chinese banks by 2006 under the terms of its WTO membership. The latest changes affect foreign banks licensed to handle the yuan, China's tightly regu-lated currency, and will "reduce the operating costs of foreign banks and pro-mote their healthy develop-ment," the commission's statement said. The capital requirement for branches dealing with Chinese com-panies will be cut by 25 percent to 300 million yuan (US$36 million), while the limit for branches handling individuals will fall by 15 percent to 500 million yuan, the agency said. It said a one-year waiting period between the openings of new bank branches will be scrapped.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Bristol-Myers to pay SEC
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, the largest US maker of AIDS drugs, will pay at least US$75 million to settle a US Securities and Exchange Commission probe of whether the company encouraged wholesalers to buy excessive supplies, people familiar with the matter said. The settlement may be announced today, the people said. The com-pany has been under SEC scrutiny since 2002 over "channel stuffing" -- giving incentives to wholesalers to buy more drugs than they could sell. Bristol-Myers agreed last week to settle related shareholder lawsuits for US$300 million, the largest payment by a drug company in a securities-fraud case in US history. Bristol-Myers in March last year restated more than US$2.5 billion in revenue, saying it improperly booked sales to two of its largest wholesalers after shipping more goods than they needed for retail demand.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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