■ TRADE
Kimchi spat over
South Korea and China have resumed normal kimchi trade, state media said yesterday, two years after Seoul kicked up a stink about the quality of the Chinese version. South Korea launched an investigation into Chinese-made kimchi after the discovery of parasite eggs in October 2005. In response, China banned several imports of Korean food and started an investigation into Korean cosmetics. South Korea agreed to cut down random sampling of Chinese kimchi from 100 percent to 20 percent in August and this week cut the sampling to the regular 10 percent, Xinhua news agency said.
■ BANKING
Blair gets part-time job
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is to join Wall Street bank JP Morgan as a part-time adviser, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Blair, who became international envoy to the Middle East after standing down following a decade as prime minster in June, will advise the financial services giant on political and strategic issues. He told the paper he now expected to take on "a small handful" of similar appointments, adding: "Nowadays, the intersection between politics and the economy in different parts of the world, including the emerging markets, is very strong." JP Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon said that Blair would be "enormously valuable" to the firm.
■ BANKING
Credit Suisse eyes China
Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse confirmed yesterday it planned to form a strategic alliance with China's Founder Group (方正集團) to focus on securities underwriting and wealth management. It also said that it intended to apply soon to form a joint venture with Founder Group's Founder Securities, adding that it hoped to hold the regulatory maximum of 33.3 percent in the firm. "I am confident that Credit Suisse's world leading franchise and Founder's local capabilities can combine to create an unrivaled alliance," Credit Suisse Investment Bank chief executive officer Paul Calello said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota global sales up
Toyota said yesterday that its global group sales rose 6 percent last year to 9.37 million vehicles, making for a tight race against General Motors, the world's biggest automaker. Toyota Motor Corp's group companies sold 7.1 million vehicles overseas last year, a 10 percent jump from the previous year, offsetting a 4 percent decline in sales in Japan at 2.26 million vehicles, the automaker said in a statement. GM has not yet given its annual sales tally but earlier estimated last year sales would come to 9.3 million vehicles.
■ JAPAN
Economic growth slower
The pace of Japan's economic growth is slowing because of a big drop in housing investment and the slowdown is likely to persist for some time, a senior central bank official said in a speech yesterday. "The nation's economic cycle is weakening now but the cycle itself remains intact," said Toshiro Muto, one of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) two deputy governors. "However, looking ahead, the economy will keep expanding," he told business leaders in Sapporo. Muto's remarks echoed the bearish economic assessment made by BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui last month after the bank's policy body voted unanimously to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from