■ ELECTRONICS
Toshiba sells building
Toshiba said yesterday it is selling its building in Tokyo's plush Ginza district for ?161 billion (US$1.4 million) to concentrate on its core electronics businesses. Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp, which has been trying to strengthen its computer chips and gadget operations, said the sale of the building to Tokyo Land Corp will be completed next month. "This sale will increase the corporate value of Toshiba through realization of a fair value for the Ginza Toshiba Building and allowing concentration of resources in core businesses," it said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Chery sees exports doubling
China's Chery Automobile Co (奇瑞汽車), a fast-growing private company, expects to double its exports this year from last year to 100,000 cars, a senior executive said yesterday. The rapid expansion of overseas shipments will help the nimble auto maker toward the ambitious goal of selling 1 million cars annually by 2010, company vice president Zhou Biren (周必仁) said. Chery, which was established just a decade ago, said its main markets abroad included the former Soviet republics, the Middle East and South America. Zhou confirmed that Chery intends to sell shares to the public, but gave few other details.
■ SINGAPORE
New berths to be built
A consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co will build 16 new berths in Singapore to enable the island state to handle growing demand for container capacity, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore said yesterday. In a statement, the MPA said the project will add 14 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) to Pasir Panjang terminal's container handling capacity. The authority said work on the new berths will commence in the last quarter of this year and will take about six years to complete.
■ AVIATION
Qantas adds green tax
Australia's flagship Qantas Airways Ltd and its popular budget carrier Jetstar launched a program yesterday allowing passengers to pay extra to offset the greenhouse emissions their flights cause. The scheme allows travelers to calculate the per-passenger emissions of their flights and buy carbon dioxide credits that would be paid to a variety of environmental projects, the airline said in a statement. A flight from Australia to Los Angeles generates around 1.4 tonnes of greenhouse gases per passenger, which the airline says can be offset by paying just A$17 (US$14.50) per flight. The money would be spent on government-approved carbon dioxide abatement schemes.
■ INDUSTRY
Mitsubishi eyes partnership
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd plans to enter the market for power plant facilities in Russia under a tie-up with conglomerate Renova Group, a newspaper said yesterday. The partnership, which is expected to be announced in the next few days, will make Mitsubishi Heavy the first Japanese heavy electric machinery manufacturer to enter the Russian power systems market, the Nikkei Shimbun said. Under the plan, Mitsubishi will transfer its latest gas turbine technology to Ural Turbine Works, a unit of the Renova Group, the report said, without revealing sources. Ural Turbine intends to double or triple output capacity from five turbines a year.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday assured the public that the nation is not facing an imminent power shortage as supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains sufficient and there is no need to increase coal-fired power generation in the short term. Taiwan has secured 20 of the 22 LNG cargoes needed for this and next month, with the remaining two still under negotiation and expected to be secured soon, Kung said, urging the public not to worry. A sufficient supply of LNG supply means coal-fired generation should operate as normal, he said, describing speculation that the nation could face
RSS