■ Shipping
Beijing unveils ports plan
China plans a major new port project on its southeastern coast near Taiwan, a step toward what it hopes will be "free trade" with Taiwan, state media reported yesterday. The port complex near the city of Xiamen will be one of two new ocean shipping centers, with another planned for the southern coast of Guangdong Province, west of Hong Kong, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported, citing the Ministry of Communications. The plan to build up ports in and near Xiamen is part of a "Western Shore Economic Zone" planned for the Taiwan Strait, the report said. China needs to upgrade its transport networks to match its economic growth, it cited Communications Minister Li Shenglin (李盛霖) as saying. Li said the Xiamen port was in preparation for "mainland-Taiwan free trade relations," the newspaper reported.
■ Aerospace
Japan eyes jet project
Stung by repeated setbacks, Japan's space agency plans to start talks next month with NASA about jointly developing a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde, an official said yesterday. Japan is trying to leapfrog ahead in the aerospace field with a plan to build a next-generation airliner that can fly between Tokyo and Los Angeles in about three hours. But a string of glitches, including a nose cone problem during the latest test flight in March, has led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to look for an international partner. "In the future, we think we need some kind of cooperation with NASA," JAXA spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro said. Japanese researchers and engineers plan to meet counterparts from the US space agency next month to discuss possible cooperation, Yashiro said, calling next month's meeting a "first step."
■ Telecoms
Vodafone to slash tariffs
Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone company, announced plans yesterday to slash the amount it charges EU customers for making and receiving calls when abroad. The move followed the European Commission's recent publication of proposals aimed at forcing telecommunications companies to reduce so-called "roaming" tariffs within the EU. "Vodafone announces today that average European roaming costs for Vodafone customers will be cut by at least 40 percent by April next year, when compared to last summer," the telecoms giant said. The group added that the average call charge for a European customer when travelling within the EU should fall to below .0.0055 euros (US$0.007) per minute.
■ Automotive
Kia finishes European plant
South Korea's Kia Motors said yesterday it had completed its first European car plant in Slovakia and expects mass production to be underway by year-end. Kia Motors, an affiliate of South Korea's largest auto manufacturer Hyundai Motor, began constructing the 1 billion euro (US$1.2 billion) factory in Zilina, Slovakia, in October 2004. The Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS) plant already employs 1,200 locals and plans to hire up to 3,000 by 2009 to build around 300,000 cars a year, the company said. "We are now in a position to deliver high quality cars to the European market and achieve the highest satisfaction for our customers," KMS president Bae In-kyu said in a statement issued here.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
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