■ CREDIT CARDS
China to allow foreign cards
Citigroup Inc and four other banks will become the first foreign institutions allowed to issue credit cards on their own in China once they meet regulatory standards, the government said. Foreign banks have been allowed to issue cards since 2004 but until now were required to work through local partners. "After they have satisfied technical standards, the banks can officially start bank card services," a representative of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday on a government Web site.
■ ENERGY
Chevron signs CNPC deal
US energy giant Chevron Corp has signed a 30-year product-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to jointly develop a large gas field in southwestern China. The gas block, occupying 1,969km2, marked China's largest onshore exploration involving a foreign group, said a CNPC statement released Tuesday. Under the terms, CNPC, the parent of China's largest oil producer PetroChina, will hold a 51 percent stake in the Chuandongbei gas block in Sichuan Province while Chevron has the remaining 49 percent, it said. The field has proven reserves of 175.97 billion cubic meters.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita in OLED talks
Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial, Canon and Hitachi are in talks on a multibillion-dollar deal to team up in thin panels for televisions and other electronics, a report said yesterday. The three companies are in the final stage of negotiations on forming an alliance to produce organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels, the Nikkei Shimbun economic daily said without naming sources. They also aim to invest £300 billion (US$2.6 billion) to build a new factory to make small and midsized liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, it said. The three companies declined to comment on the report, saying nothing had been decided.
■ PRODUCT SAFETY
Chinese toys recalled
A Japanese importer is recalling 230,000 toys made in China due to excessive levels of toxic substances, an official said yesterday, the latest in a wave of global recalls of Chinese goods. The recall, which began on Tuesday, covers toys that were sold from 2004 up to the beginning of December this year, an official of Marushin Toys said. According to Japan's Toy Association Web site, the importer slapped fake safety labels on 16 items without the necessary authorization or inspections. Among the recalled toys, at least 132,000 contained excessive levels of lead and other chemicals, the association said. It was unable to check the remainder as there were none left in stock.
■ BANKING
British bank eyes share
British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks to buy 19.9 percent of Suzhou Trust in China, its latest attempt to ramp up its position in the Chinese market, state media said yesterday. "The two parties have got initial results in negotiations over key issues such as the selling price and the size of the stake," the 21st Century Business Herald cited an unnamed source close to the deal as saying. The value of the deal was not disclosed, the newspaper said. The potential deal would be the Royal Bank of Scotland's second purchase of Chinese financial assets. It currently holds 8.25 percent of Bank of China, one of the nation's big four state-owned lenders.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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