■ 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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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