■ Aviation
Qantas maintenance to stay
Qantas Airways Ltd said yesterday it would keep its maintenance operations in Australia for now, but announced plans to close its engineering plant in Sydney and cut 480 jobs by May as part of a major cost-cutting drive. Chief executive Geoff Dixon said the restructuring would save A$100 million (US$74 million) a year, but warned that shifting thousands of maintenance jobs overseas was still a long-term option. Transport Minister Warren Truss welcomed the decision not to outsource maintenance jobs, and said he had made it clear to Qantas it was "strongly in the national interest" to keep them in Australia.
■ Piracy
China announces IPR plan
China's government has created a plan to intensify intellectual property rights protection this year, the government said yesterday. The plan covers trademarks, patents and import and export activities, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Commerce Ministry. China is widely regarded as the world's top producer of illegal copies of music, movies, software, designer clothes, medicines and other products. Such fake products are still widely available despite repeated government crackdowns. Under the latest plan, China will draft or revise 17 laws and regulations concerning trademarks, copyrights, patents and customs this year, Xinhua said. It said officials will take measures to raise public awareness about protecting intellectual property rights, and will conduct international exchanges and cooperation as part of the effort, Xinhua said. It did not give further details of the plan.
■ Energy
China rejects joint project
China has rejected a Japanese proposal for joint development of disputed natural gas deposits in the East China Sea, Kyodo News agency reported, citing the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The two countries have been feuding over the deposits. China claims it has rights to the natural gas, but Tokyo says the two countries should share them. Kyodo quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) as saying that the development is taking place in undisputedly Chinese waters, and that Beijing would reject Japan's joint development proposal. Qin also said China rejects as a one-sided a Japan-proposed "median line" to separate their economic waters in the East China Sea, Kyodo said.
■ Investment
NYSE shares jump
The New York Stock Exchange got off to a flying start on Wednesday as its shares became publicly traded for the first time in its 214-year history. NYSE Group shares soared 24.5 percent to US$80 on heavy volume of 6.3 million shares after the exchange completed its merger with Archipelago, an electronic market platform. NYSE chief executive John Thain bought 100 shares at US$67 each on Wednesday in the first trade for the NYSE Group, which ended more than two centuries as a member-owned institution in a major revamp. The market on Tuesday completed its US$9.5 billion merger with Archipelago Exchange, a cutting-edge electronic platform. Renamed the NYSE Group and sporting the share ticker "NYX," the new company had a market capitalization of roughly US$10 billion, more than three times the size of the NASDAQ, an alternative market dominated by technology listings.
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
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