■ PROPERTY
Russian bank invests in UK
Russia's second-largest bank is investing some US$260 million in a residential development project in London, the RBK business daily reported yesterday. Vneshtorgbank is investing in "the purchase and construction of a residential complex" in Hammersmith in west London, the company's legal consultants, Dewey and LeBoeuf, were quoted as saying in a report. The state-controlled bank held an initial public offering earlier this year that raised US$8 billion.
■ BANKING
Ownership caps unchanged
A Chinese regulator says Beijing is unlikely to decide on a US request to raise limits on foreign ownership in banks and securities companies before its legislature meets in March, a news report said yesterday. Raising foreign ownership caps would require a change in Chinese law, Dow Jones Newswires quoted Cai Esheng (蔡鄂生), vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, as saying at a financial conference in Beijing. Washington is lobbying Beijing to ease restrictions that limit total foreign ownership of a Chinese bank to 25 percent.
■ MEDIA
LVMH buys newspaper
French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA said on Monday it had concluded a deal with Britain-based media group Pearson PLC to buy France's leading financial newspaper Les Echos. In a statement, LVMH also said it has signed a deal for the sale of France's other chief financial daily, La Tribune, to businessman Alain Weill. The financial details of the LVMH-Pearson deal for Groupe Les Echos were not given, but news reports have said it could generate around 200 million euros (US$287 million).
■ ENERGY
Three Gorges output up
China's electricity output at the world's biggest hydropower project rose by about 25 percent this year after new generators were installed. The Three Gorges station has generated 60.86 million megawatt-hours of electricity so far this year with output until the end of the year expected to reach 61.6 million megawatt-hours, the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. China added 5,000 megawatts of new capacity at Three Gorges this year, bringing the total capacity to 14,800 megawatts, the commission said. Water flow at the power station had increased 36.4 percent by Dec. 23 compared with last year, it said.
■ ELECTRONICS
Sanyo may be delisted
Sanyo Electric Co, the Japanese electronics maker that has not turned a profit for three years, may have its shares removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the company misstated six years of financial results. The shares are on watch for possible delisting, the exchange said on its Web site after Osaka-based Sanyo disclosed yesterday it understated losses from April 2000 to March of last year. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended Sanyo be fined ¥8.3 million (US$72,650). Sanyo, the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries, will cut salaries for executives including the president and cancel retirement pay for board members for their failure to prevent the misstatements. The company erroneously paid dividends because of the errors, it said.
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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