■ BANKING
Non-green lending to stop
In the latest government initiative to improve China's grim environmental record, the central bank yesterday instructed banks to stop lending to projects that cause heavy pollution and waste energy. The People's Bank of China urged banks to realize the "importance and urgency" of using financial services to promote green development. In a statement on its Web site www.pbc.gov.cn, it instructed banks to call in existing loans and to extend no new credit to projects deemed undesirable by the government; it also told banks to lend less to sectors where there is overcapacity. Energy conservation and environmental protection are rising fast up the political agenda in China, where about 460,000 people die prematurely each year from breathing dirty air and drinking polluted water, according to World Bank estimates.
■ CAMERAS
Samsung moving to China
South Korea's largest electronics parts maker said yesterday that it would move all its camera module production lines for mobile handsets to China this year. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a sister firm of Samsung Electronics, said the relocation was designed to cut costs and meet rising demand from clients in the Chinese market. "The relocation is already under way. We will complete it in the third quarter of this year," a spokeswoman said. "It is to meet growing demand from our clients, including Motorola, in China." The company already produces 70 percent of its camera modules at its plant in Tianjin, she said.
■ METALS
Rusal mulls London float
Russian aluminum producer Rusal could put some of its shares up for sale on the London stock market as soon as November in the biggest global initial public offering (IPO) this year, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The business daily, citing sources close to the matter, said the sale of 25 percent of Rusal could raise as much as US$9 billion. Rusal was poised to appoint six investment banks to advise it on the London float, FT said. The report added that Rusal would pursue a listing on the main stock exchange, which would likely hand the Russian titan a place in London's prestigious FTSE 100 index of leading shares.
■ PETROCHEMICALS
Samsung wins UAE order
South Korea's Samsung Engineering Co said yesterday it had won an order worth 279 billion won (US$303 million) to build a petrochemical plant in the United Arab Emirates. The plant, to be built by the end of 2009, was ordered by the UAE's Abu Dhabi Polymers Co, Samsung Engineering said in a regulatory filing.
■ CONSUMER GOODS
Unilever eyes Chinese firm
Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever is eyeing a stake in Chinese personal hygiene firm Shanghai White Cat Shareholding Co (上海白貓), which was recently at the center of a safety scandal, state media said yesterday. "We have approached them," Unilever China vice president Zeng Xiwen (鄭西文) was quoted by the China Business News as saying. "[We] do not rule out Unilever acquiring White Cat." Last month, White Cat admitted to mixing potentially dangerous diethylene glycol into its Maxam brand toothpaste that is exported, heightening global fears about the safety of Chinese-made products.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
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