■ Airlines
United staff threaten `chaos'
About 25 United Airlines flight attendants protested at the Hong Kong Airport yesterday, threatening to hold a "chaos strike" -- a random, unannounced walkout -- over the termination of the carrier's pension plan. The airline's employees were holding similar rallies in Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, Germany and 14 US locations,Jack Kande of the Association of Flight Attendants said. "We are informing the public that we can go on chaos strike at any time without warning. We could shut down the whole system," Kande said. Some of the protesters held signs that said, "Chaos is coming to Hong Kong" and "Save our pension."
■ Aviation
China wants overseas pilots
China wants to recruit foreign airline pilots to relieve a shortage plaguing the world's fastest-growing aviation sector, official media reported yesterday. "Overseas pilots will be able to be employed by Chinese carriers after obtaining flight licenses in China," the China Daily quoted an official of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China as saying. China's booming commercial aviation industry is taking off faster than the country can train pilots, threatening future growth and hard-won advances in air safety, China Daily said.
■ Insider trading
Businessman sentenced
High profile Australian businessman Steve Vizard was fined A$390,000 (US$292,000) and banned from serving on corporate boards for 10 years yesterday after being convicted of insider trading while a director of telecom giant Telstra. Vizard, a former entertainer and television talk-show host, had admitted using confidential information gained as a Telstra director to trade A$850,000 dollars worth of shares in technology companies in which the telco was planning to invest. Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein called Vizard's actions "dishonest and a gross breach of trust" and said the Securities and Investments Commission's recommendation for a five-year corporate ban was not sufficient.
■ Electronics
Japanese firms post losses
Japanese electronics companies led by Sony said yesterday that they plunged into the red in the three months to June as falling prices led to cutthroat competition as demand cooled. Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, NEC and Pioneer all posted losses in the first quarter, although Matsushita and Fujitsu bucked the trend by cost-cutting and restructuring. Sony posted a net loss of ¥7.3 billion (US$65 million) compared with a net profit of ?23.3 billion in the same period last year. Matsushita's sales went down 2.6 percent and its pretax profit plummeted 17.7 percent. But the company was able to eke out growth in net profit of 1.9 percent year-on-year to ¥33.4 billion.
■ Retail
Wal-Mart now in Shanghai
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, opened a new store in China's biggest city, Shanghai, yesterday as part of a plan to double its presence in China. The new Shanghai store is owned by Wal-Mart East China Stores Co, a joint venture between US-based Wal-Mart and China's CITIC Group. The venture also operates a store in Nanjing. Wal-Mart, which has its China headquarters in the southern financial center of Shenzhen, said this week it plans to have 90 outlets in China by the end of 2006 -- up from the current 48.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
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