■ Communication
E-mail favored over phones
Executives in the business world prefer to write messages via e-mail instead of picking up the phone to communicate with colleagues, a global survey said yesterday. The poll of 1,500 executives, including 26 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, found more than 66 percent of them prefer to send e-mails compared with 16 percent who opt for phones, according to the poll by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and American networking giant Cisco Systems. Following e-mail, short message service (SMS) emerged second best. Those who prefer instant messaging (IM) over other means of electronic communications stand out as the most ardent proponents of technology. "A full 81 percent of the respondents said automated communications methods make them more or very productive in the workplace," said the EIU findings published in the Business Times.
■ Automakers
GM executive quits abruptly
Philip Murtaugh, the General Motors executive who turned the company's operations in China into one of GM's few successes in recent years, has unexpectedly resigned from the automaker, citing personal reasons, people with knowledge of his decision said yesterday. GM officials declined to comment on Murtaugh's plans. But his departure coincides with growing competitiveness and reduced profitability for all automakers in the Chinese market, as well as an effort by GM executives in Detroit to unite the company's global operations. Murtaugh, 51, was part of the negotiating team that won Chinese permission in the early 1990's for GM to build a factory in Shanghai, and stayed on, building personal contacts among government and corporate officials.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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