■ TRADE
US wants to revise FTA
The US wants to revise a free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea to reflect new US trade policy guidelines, Seoul's foreign ministry said yesterday. The US Trade Representative office on Saturday presented a revised pact which had April's original agreement partly modified, added or deleted, the ministry said in a statement. US trade negotiator Wendy Cutler will visit Seoul on Thursday and Friday to explain those changes, it said. "The government will decide on how to respond after scrutinizing the US proposal and consulting with relevant ministries and agencies," it said. The US measure has been expected since last month when Congress and the White House agreed to a bipartisan deal that sets social and environmental standards for FTAs.
■ TRADE
WTO boss in China for talks
WTO Director General Pascal Lamy arrived in China yesterday for a four-day visit aimed at helping to revive momentum in the Doha round of trade talks. Lamy is to meet senior commerce, finance and agricultural officials, Xinhua news agency reported. "At present, the Doha global trade negotiations have entered a crucial stage, and under these circumstances, he hopes to discuss with Chinese officials how to achieve progress in the negotiations," Xinhua reported, citing an interview with Lamy. This week top trade officials from the US, EU, Brazil and India are due to meet in Potsdam, Germany, seeking progress in the talks.
■ BANKING
Resona nears agreement
Resona Holdings Inc, Japan's fourth-largest banking group, and Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co, the nation's No. 2 life insurance company, are close to agreement on a tie-up, reports said yesterday. The two firms have entered final negotiations for concluding a capital and operational tie-up, which will be the first time for a major bank and an insurance firm to forge an alliance, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, without clarifying sources. Under the proposed deal, Dai-Ichi Mutual would acquire preferred shares amounting to around ?300 billion (US$2.48 billion) to be issued by Resona, the paper said. The companies are also eyeing a tie-up in the sale of insurance policies at bank counters, the paper said.
■ INVESTMENT
Indian interest in US grows
Indian companies invested more than US$2 billion in the US last year and this year and completed 48 deals with US firms, a joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and professional services' firm Ernst & Young said. Information technology and IT-enabled services' industries accounted for 48 percent of the deals, which included large contracts in other sectors such as pharmaceuticals, hospitality, agricultural products and the automotive industry, the study said. The report also noted that Indian outbound deals crossed US$15 billion last year, and projections suggested this year's value could surpass US$35 billion.
■ REAL ESTATE
Prices `not sustainable'
A sharp surge in property prices is not sustainable in the long-run, Singaporean Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan (馬寶山) said yesterday. Home prices in Singapore surged by 10 percent last year on the back of a robust economy and are expected to increase this year. Rents in the wealthy city-state have also doubled this year.
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
Taiwanese shares yesterday posted a record daily gain of more than 1,700 points to close above 40,000 points for the first time, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) amid optimism about the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The TAIEX ended up 1,778.51 points, or 4.57 percent, at 40,705.14 after moving between 39,228.39 and 40,755.52, while the New Taiwan dollar closed up NT$0.038 at NT$31.610 per US dollar, ending three consecutive sessions of declines. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$1.007 trillion (US$31.9 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$66.98 billion
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
NON-INTERFERENCE: The US called Taiwan a trusted and capable partner, while an African Union leader urged nations to reflect on respect for sovereign choices Taiwan is a “trusted and capable” partner of the US and Taipei’s global relationships, including with Eswatini, provide significant benefits, the US Department of State said of President William Lai’s (賴清德) trip to the southern African kingdom. Lai arrived in the former Swaziland on Saturday on a surprise visit after a planned trip last month was canceled when Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar denied overflight permission for his aircraft due to Chinese pressure. “Taiwan is a trusted and capable partner of the United States and many others, and its relationships around the world provide significant benefits to the citizens of those countries,
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