■ Banking
Citigroup appoints new COO
The world's largest banking group, Citigroup, announced new management on Monday as it vies with competitor Bank of America, which is aggressively expanding its turf. Citigroup said in a statement that it had appointed Robert Druskin, 59, as its new chief operating officer. Druskin will report directly to Citigroup chief executive Chuck Prince. "One of his [Druskin's] first tasks is to undertake a comprehensive review of our expense base," Prince said.
■ Steel
Giants join forces
South Korean steel giant POSCO and Japanese rival Nippon Steel have agreed to jointly conduct purchasing operations for iron ore in the next contract year, officials said yesterday. The aim is to secure a stable supply as China's growing appetite for raw materials causes shortages and pushes up costs, POSCO spokeswoman Ko Min-jin said. The next contract year starts in April, she said. Nippon Steel and POSCO, the world's second and third largest steelmakers by output, forged a partnership based on a cross-shareholding arrangement in 2000. In October they agreed to increase stakes in each other's company by March next year.
■ Food
Ministry approves sale
China's Ministry of Commerce has given a green light for a Goldman Sachs unit to buy China's biggest meat processor, Shuanghui Group (雙匯集團), the company said yesterday. Rotary Vortex Ltd, which is 51 percent owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, will buy Shuanghui and a stake in its publicly traded unit, Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co, for a total of ?2.57 billion (US$325 million), Shuanghui said in an announcement posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Web site. Rotary Vortex's plan to buy a 100 percent stake in Shuanghui was among several high profile foreign acquisitions that raised criticism about the growing influence of foreign businesses in key industries.
■ Finance
Japan to cut bond issuance
Japan will make its largest ever cut in bond issuance to trim budget spending for the fiscal year beginning in April, the government's top spokesman said yesterday, part of an effort to reduce the country's huge national debt. The government plans a deeper cut in new bond sales than the ?4.4 trillion (US$37.8 billion) reduction for the current fiscal year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters. That would bring total bond issuance for the year to below ?25.5 trillion. Japan's combined outstanding central and local government debt is expected to stand at around 150 percent of GDP at the end of this fiscal year through March, the highest among major industrialized nations.
■ Mobile phones
Prada and LG team up
Italian luxury goods designer Prada has tied up with South Korea's LG Electronics in hopes of developing the ultimate mobile phone fashion accessory, officials said yesterday. LG said in a statement that distribution of the phone would start in early next year in Europe, followed by Asia. It will be available in South Korea in the second quarter of next year. The company said it would develop a unique, sophisticated and elegant phone, with an advanced-touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad.
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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