■ Accommodation
Manila has cheapest hotels
Hotels in Manila are the cheapest among 10 Asian countries, followed by Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, a consulting firm reported yesterday. This year's average daily room rates in the Philippine capital are between US$70 to US$75. Singapore's hotels average US$76 and Kuala Lumpur's US$75 to US$80, according to consulting firm Horwath Asia Pacific. Bangkok's hotel rooms average US$110 to US$115 a night. Tops on the list is Tokyo, with rates between US$190 to US$195, followed by Shanghai, at US$170 to US$175, the firm's data showed. With the entry of budget airlines and the economies of Japan, China and India humming along, hotel chiefs predict room rates will rise this year.
■ Investment
Securities firm discussed
A major Japanese banking group and Merrill Lynch & Co are in talks about setting up a securities company together that would target rich people, a news report said yesterday. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc denied that a decision had been made, while acknowledging that informal talks were in progress. Merrill Lynch refused to comment. The companies are considering combining the US firm's expertise in such business and Mitsubishi Tokyo's strong customer base, which would allow Merrill Lynch to gain a bigger foothold in the Japanese market, the leading business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. Mitsubishi Tokyo is merging with another Japanese "Big Four" bank, UFJ Holdings Inc, by October, forming the world's biggest bank in assets.
■ Airlines
Passenger traffic rebounds
The number of international passengers traveling on the Asia-Pacific region's major airlines rose 22.5 percent last year from the previous year to 117 million, an aviation group said yesterday, signaling the industry's recovery from 2003's SARS crisis. "The unexpectedly strong rebound in passenger traffic in 2004 was a welcome relief," the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines said. It "has generally resulted in higher revenues and better profitability, despite markedly higher fuel costs. The challenges of continuing high fuel prices and keen competition will remain important factors affecting profitability,'' the group said in a statement.
■ Advertising
Asia-Pacific splashes out
A record US$62 billion was spent on advertising in the Asia-Pacific region last year fuelled by a rise in economic and consumer confidence, a research agency's report said on Thursday. The outlook for this year remains positive, said Nielsen Media Research, although the impact of the Dec. 26 tsunamis made predictions uncertain. China showed the biggest increase out of the 12 countries surveyed in 2004. Its US$31.6 billion in ad spending represented a 32 percent jump from 2003. Hong Kong and South Korea were also big spenders, with each accounting for 7 percent. Australia accounted for 6 percent, India and Indonesia 4 percent each, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand 3 percent each. Singapore contributed 2 percent to the region's ad spending along with Malaysia. Television remained the dominant choice for advertisers, capturing 66 percent of the pie between the three core media: newspapers, magazines and TV.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
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