■ Economy
Fitch upgrades HK rating
Fitch Ratings said yesterday it had upgraded its outlook on Hong Kong's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to "positive" from "stable." The ratings agency said the revision mainly reflects the territory's strong external financial position and the continued reform of its public finances. Fitch expects the Hong Kong economy to grow 6.3 percent this year and 4 percent to 5 percent in the medium term, against the government's forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent for this year and 4 percent per annum from next year to 2010.
■ Automobilies
Lower tax aids Nissan profit
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday that its net profit in the first quarter rose 4.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to ¥110.2 billion (US$945 million) as lower taxes made up for a sales slump. However, its operating profit in the April-to-June quarter fell 25.7 percent year-on-year. Operating profit, which measures earnings before the deduction of interest payments and income taxes, declined to ¥153.3 billion. Japan's second automobile manufacturer sold 826,000 vehicles in the three-month period, down 6 percent, on a lack of new models, but group sales rose 3.1 percent to ¥2.21 trillion, it said.
■ Telecoms
PCCW trading suspended
Shares of Hong Kong phone operator PCCW Ltd (電訊盈科) were suspended from trading yesterday following a news report saying the company would reject offers by foreign investors for its core telecommunications and media assets. Citing people familiar with the situation, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday that PCCW's board of directors would reject separate bids for its assets from Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd and US investment firm Texas Pacific Group and its Asia-focused unit Newbridge. The report did not name its sources. The proposed asset sale had faced fierce opposition from Chinese state-owned phone operator China Network Communications Group, which owns 20 percent of PCCW. China Netcom suggested it didn't want to see telecom infrastructure on Chinese soil falling into foreign hands.
■ Oil
BP's Q2 profits up 23%
Despite a drop in output, British energy giant BP announced yesterday a 22.8 percent increase in second-quarter earnings on the back of soaring crude oil prices. Net profit, excluding gains in the value of its crude oil inventories, rose to US$6.12 billion in the three months to June, compared with US$4.98 billion in the same period last year, BP said in a results statement.
■ Gas
Watchdog raids 20 firms
Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog raided about 20 gas companies yesterday over suspected bid-rigging for natural gas station projects subsidized by the government, Fair Trade Commission spokesman Akinori Yamada said. The gas companies are suspected of having colluded on bids for projects to build gas stations for natural gas-powered vehicles around Japan, and financed by the government, Yamada said. The projects, worth between ¥3 billion (US$235.64 million) and ¥4 billion a year, are ordered by gas suppliers, gas station operators and local governments, Yamada said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
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