■ FINANCE
Standard opens in Jiangxi
Standard Chartered Plc, which runs 13 branches in China, will be the first foreign lender to open an outlet in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. The branch was approved by the nation's banking regulator this month and will be the London-based bank's first in the central part of the country, Xinhua said. Standard Charted incorporated operations in China last March before receiving a license for local-currency business.
■ JAPAN
Former minister speaks out
Former economy minister Heizo Takenaka said the country needs "strong" measures to revitalize its economy. Possible steps may include reducing corporate taxes and extending operations around the clock at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Takenaka said on a news program broadcast by TV Asahi. He did not elaborate. The former minister also said he expected the US to inject public funds to ease the impact of the subprime crisis. "Sooner or later, the US will take this measure," Takenaka said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai wins Qatar project
Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co, South Korea's largest builder by market value, received US$301 million of orders from Qatar to build power-generation facilities. Qatar General Electricity & Water Corp placed a US$201 million order for a transformer substation, Hyundai Engineering said in a statement yesterday. Hyundai Engineering also won a US$100 million power cabling contract from the company, also known as Kahramaa. The substation will take 30 months, while the cabling contract will be completed in 23 months, it said.
■ TRADE
Peru, China reach deal
Peru and China have agreed to boost trade and investment between their countries ahead of a free trade deal planned for November, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said. The countries, whose trade balance reached US$5.3 billion last year, will in coming months sign a preliminary partnership to increase commerce more than fourfold by 2015, Garcia told local media on Friday night, after a six-day visit to China and Japan. They plan to ink a formal trade deal during the annual APEC forum, to be held in Peru in November, Garcia said, giving no details on tariff reductions or other preferential terms of trade. China is Peru's second-largest commercial partner after the US.
■ TELECOMS
DoCoMo eyeing Android
NTT DoCoMo Inc may start employing a mobile phone-operating system developed by Google Inc by 2010, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The move would allow DoCoMo to simplify the platform software for mobile phones and gain better access to growing markets in other Asian countries, the report said, without saying where it obtained the information. The operating system, known as Android, was developed by Google and a group known as the Open Handset Alliance. DoCoMo previously developed a mobile phone operating system for domestic customers in Japan, the report said. Some Japanese mobile-phone handset makers have withdrawn their businesses because of shrinking demand at home, it said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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