■PETROCHEM
BASF, Sinopec to build plant
The German chemicals giant BASF and Chinese partner Sinopec (中國石化) will invest around US$1.4 billion to expand a joint facility in Nanjing, China, BASF said yesterday. The project got a green light from the Chinese government on July 1 and will use cutting edge technology to make products for the construction, electronics, pharmaceutical, automotive and chemical engineering sectors, a statement said. The joint venture BASF-YPC, which has existed since 2000, will build 10 new chemical plants and expand three existing ones. The expanded plants are to begin operations in 2011.
■FURNITURE
Ikea to trim more jobs
Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea needs to trim more jobs amid sluggish sales, the group’s founder Ingvar Kamprad said in an interview published yesterday. Ikea has shed some 5,000 jobs worldwide and more cuts were necessary, he said. “We need to trim staff in production and logistics,” Kamprad was quoted as telling financial daily Dagens Industri. “We need to adjust ourselves to sales that are way below budget estimates and become more efficient,” he said. Sales in the 250 stores it operates worldwide were 7 percent less than expected.
■AUTOMObiles
Peugeot sales drop 14%
Sales at French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen fell 14 percent in the first six months of the year amid a sharp decline in the crisis-hit world auto market, the French company said yesterday. The company said however that its “share of the European market remained stable at 13.6 percent” — a 0.3 percent increase from the second half of last year. In China, the company said its sales rose 13.8 percent in the first half. PSA Peugeot Citroen also said that auto sales had fallen less sharply in Europe in the second quarter than in the first quarter thanks to government schemes to encourage people to trade their old cars for newer models.
■AVIATION
Air France passengers down
Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest airline, which has already been forced to cut operations in the economic crisis, saw passenger traffic fall 6.4 percent last month, the company said yesterday. The biggest drop came in Asia, where passenger numbers fell 10.8 percent, while traffic in Africa and the Middle East dropped just 0.2 percent. The European network saw a 6.8 percent decline in traffic. Air France-KLM said it carried a total of 6.4 million passengers last month. The airline also said however that the decline in cargo traffic had stabilized, edging down only 0.4 percent in the course of the month. “These figures confirm again the trend towards a stabilization of the cargo activity, with a progressive adjustment of capacity to demand,” it said.
■BEVERAGES
Pepsi to invest in Russia
Soft drink and snack maker PepsiCo Inc announced plans on Monday to boost its investment in Russia, continuing a trend of consumer companies seeking growth in emerging markets as their US sales soften. With its biggest bottler, Pepsi Bottling Group Inc, PepsiCo plans to invest another US$1 billion in Russia over three years, taking the partnership’s Russian stake above US$4 billion just as US President Barack Obama opens his first official visit to Moscow. Pepsi in 1974 became the first Western consumer product to be made and sold in the USSR.
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
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