■ china
FX reserves hit US$1.65tn
The nation's foreign exchange reserves rose by US$118.9 billion in the first two months of the year to US$1.65 trillion, the China Business News reported yesterday. The reserves increased US$61.6 billion and US$57.3 billion in January and last month respectively, it said, citing unnamed sources. China's foreign exchange reserve, the world's biggest, rose by 43.32 percent or US$461.9 billion last year to US$1.53 trillion, figures released by the central bank showed. A spokesman with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange declined to comment on the report.
■ leisure
GIC teams with Host Hotels
Singapore has teamed up with US-listed Host Hotels and Resorts in a US$600 million venture to explore investments in the hospitality trade in Asia and Australia, the partners said. Host Hotels and Resorts will hold a 25 percent stake in the venture, which will have a maximum equity of US$600 million, they said in a statement late on Tuesday. An affiliate of the real estate arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), which is partnering with the US hotelier in the venture, will own the remaining 75 percent, GIC said.
■ mining
Vale suspends Xstrata bid
Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce SA said on Tuesday it had halted negotiations to acquire Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC in a deal reportedly worth as much as US$90 billion. Vale said in a statement that talks were discontinued after Xstrata failed to agree to its latest offer of cash and stock. The company said it reserves the right to make a new offer within six months. The purchase would be the largest ever made by a Brazilian company. Two years ago, Vale paid US$17.6 billion for Canadian nickel miner Inco Ltd.
■ banking
Maybank to buy rival
Maybank, Malaysia's top lender, said yesterday it planned to acquire Indonesia's sixth-largest bank, Bank Internasional Indonesia, for US$2.7 billion as part of an aggressive regional expansion. In a statement to the stock exchange, Maybank said it had agreed to buy Sorak Financial Holdings Pte Ltd, which owns 56 percent of Bank Internasional, for US$1.5 billion. Maybank will then make a tender offer for the remaining 44 percent stake in Bank Internasional for US$1.2 billion, it said. Bank Internasional has a network of 230 branches and some 700 ATMs. Sorak is 75 percent held by Singapore's Temasek Holdings and 25 percent by South Korea's Kookmin Bank.
■ energy
Chevron reports find
Chevron Corp has found at least 142 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Malay Basin offshore southwest Vietnam, it said yesterday. Chevron said in a statement that a three-month drilling program ended in the middle of this month confirmed a greater development potential than first believed. Chevron Vietnam operates exploration in several exploration blocks in the Malay Basin on behalf of partners PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Co, Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co Ltd and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL. Timing of first production is contingent on further commercial negotiations with PetroVietnam, Chevron said.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
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