■ 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.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
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