■ Internet
Hotmail goes mobile on `3'
Microsoft Corp formed a partnership with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (和記黃埔), owner of the "3" wireless networks, to offer e-mail and text chat services over mobile phones. 3 Group's customers, numbering almost 12 million globally, will be able to use Microsoft's MSN Messenger, as well as read and send Hotmail e-mails using their mobile handsets, the companies said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Hutchison Whampoa, the holding company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), has so-called third-generation network licenses in 10 countries, including Italy, the UK, Sweden and Denmark. Such networks allow users to download music, hold video conferences and surf the Internet.
■ Wireless
Wavecom to buy Sony unit
Wavecom SA, a French maker of wireless components, agreed to buy a components unit from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB for as much as 32.5 million euros (US$39.6 million) in cash. The shares had their biggest gain since September. Wavecom plans to buy the Sony Ericsson unit that makes parts and software for wireless machine-to-machine communications, the company said yesterday. Sony Ericsson is the world's No. 5 mobile-phone maker. The acquisition marks the first combination of two major players in wireless machine-to-machine communications and can accelerate adoption of industry standards, Wavecom chief executive Ron Black said in the statement. Wavecom is paying about a fifth of its own market value for the Sony Ericsson unit.
■ Microchips
EU reviews Hynix tariffs
The European Commission could raise or end tariffs on South Korean microchip maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc after it launched a review of the 34.8 percent duties it imposed to counter government subsidies. The EU executive said in a notice published on Saturday that there was enough evidence to show that South Korean subsidies to Hynix had changed significantly. Hynix has argued that the tariffs should be dropped, because the government grants that caused competitors to complain in 2001 no longer exist. However, EU regulators said European producers Infineon Technologies AG and Micron Europe Ltd claimed that the tariffs were not high enough. Infineon and Micron claim that Hynix benefits from numerous subsidies, including debt roll-over, a debt-to-equity swap, loans by government-owned or directed banks to finance asset transfers, a capital write down plan, a cash-buyout plan, term loans and a revolving credit agreement.
■ Banking
KEB union favors DBS
The labor union of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) said yesterday it supported the bid by the DBS group of Singapore to become the new owner of South Korea's fifth-largest lender. DBS is competing with South Korea's largest lender, Kookmin Bank, and its rival Hana Financial Group to acquire a controlling 51 percent stake from US fund Lone Star. Lone Star acquired the stake for 1.38 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) in October 2003. The deal is expected to be the country's biggest sale in the sector. "DBS is not the best option, but the second-best we can opt in reality," the union said in a statement.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
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