■AUTOMOTIVE
LG to supply Volkswagen
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea’s second-biggest electronics maker, signed an agreement for US$370 million to supply car audio systems to Volkswagen AG for seven years from 2012. LG will supply the systems to Volkswagen’s three brands in Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic, the Seoul-based company said in a statement yesterday. The deal is a result of the collaboration between LG and Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, since 2007 in automobile audio systems, LG said.
■AUTO PARTS
SK Energy to make batteries
SK Energy Co, South Korea’s biggest oil refiner, will supply car batteries to Daimler AG’s Japanese unit Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. SK Energy was selected to supply lithium-ion batteries for Mitsubishi Fuso’s gasoline-electric vehicles on Saturday, the Seoul-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement, without providing financial details. The agreement “would enable SK Energy to participate in various hybrid and electric vehicles projects of Daimler as a preferred supplier,” the company said in the statement.
■BANKING
Beijing bank plans IPO
Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行), the nation’s fourth-biggest lender by assets, is planning a public share sale as soon as possible, bank president Zhang Yun (張雲) said at a financial forum in Shanghai. “Agricultural Bank of China is actively preparing for an IPO and will try to achieve an IPO as early as possible,” Zhang said yesterday. The Beijing-based bank in May raised 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) in the nation’s biggest corporate bond sale to boost capital and help pave the way for an initial public offering.
■REAL ESTATE
HK watches for bubble
Hong Kong’s government will “closely” monitor the local property market and will introduce measures to ensure its stability if necessary. “The government noted that the relatively small number of residential flats completed and the record prices attained in certain transactions this year have caused concern about the supply of flats, difficulty in purchasing a home and the possibility of a property bubble,” a statement on the government’s Web site said yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority tightened down-payment requirements for luxury homes on Friday for the first time since 1991 to curtail property speculation after record-low interest rates fueled a surge in prices this year.
■SHIPPING
DP World to lease building
DP World Ltd, the Middle East’s biggest port operator, signed an agreement to purchase a long-term lease on its office building in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai with group company Economic Zones World FZE. The transaction value “has not been disclosed due to its non-material nature,” the Dubai government-controlled port company said in a statement to NASDAQ Dubai yesterday.
■RAILWAYS
Union votes for strike
South Korean railway workers have voted to strike to press for higher wages and better working conditions, company officials and union leaders said yesterday. The 24,600-strong union of Korea Railway Corp, the country’s railway monopoly, said 76.58 percent of 23,344 voting members were in favor of the industrial action at the vote that ended on Friday.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
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
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
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