■CHINA
Top executive investigated
The vice chairman and executive director of telecoms giant China Mobile (中國移動), Zhang Chunjiang (張春江), is under investigation for breaching party discipline, state media reported on Saturday. Zhang, who is also secretary of China Mobile’s Chinese Communist Party committee, was “suspected of a serious breach of party discipline,” Xinhua news agency reported, quoting an anonymous member of the party’s disciplinary committee. Xinhua’s report gave no further details, but “serious breaches of party discipline” usually refers to cases of corruption. A spokeswoman for Hong Kong-listed China Mobile was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as confirming that an investigation was under way regarding Zhang “for alleged breach of contract relating to personal reasons.”
■ECONOMY
Trichet targets EU deficits
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said budget deficits in the euro region need to be pared back by 2011 at the latest. Some countries may have to do it as early as next year, he said today in a commentary for the German Sunday tabloid Bild am Sonntag. He said that recovery from the financial crisis required concerted effort to offset joblessness. “Banks must perform their central role in the supply of credit to the economy … Handling the consequences of the crisis for the labor market and public finances represents an additional challenge.” “Budget deficits in the euro area must be reduced by 2011 at the latest — in some countries as early as 2010 — in order to maintain confidence in public finances,” he said.
■ENERGY
Baku doubles Russia supply
Azerbaijan will double gas supplies to Russia next year to 1 billion cubic meters, the resource-rich Caucasus republic’s energy firm SOCAR said on Saturday. “In 2010 we will supply one billion cubic meters of gas to Russia,” SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists in Baku. In October SOCAR and Russia’s gas giant Gazprom signed a contract to begin the pumping of 500 million cubic meters of gas annually to Russia as Moscow seeks to extend its grip on potential European energy supplies in the hydrocarbons-rich Caspian Sea. Under the contract, Gazprom’s purchases of Azerbaijani gas will start on Friday. The price for the gas will be agreed quarterly, based on global market rates.
■IRELAND
Lenihan to stay at his job
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan intends to continue working while he receives cancer treatment, the Sunday Times said, without citing anyone. The newspaper also said he may be forced to step down. Lenihan has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Dublin-based broadcaster TV3 reported on Saturday, without citing anyone. The finance ministry said Lenihan is “well and enjoying Christmas with his family,” a statement said.
■COSMETICS
Yves Rocher dies at 79
Yves Rocher, who founded the beauty products group named after him five decades ago, has died at the age of 79, the Paris hospital authority said on Saturday. Rocher, originally from Brittany, founded the company in 1959 and nurtured it into a firm with annual sales of over 2 billion euros (US$2.9 billion), nearly three times that of L’Oreal’s Body Shop, and a presence in over 80 countries. Aside from his company role, Rocher was also mayor of Gacilly in Brittany and holds the rare distinction of the Legion d’Honneur.
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
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
SPEECH IMPEDIMENT? The state department said that using routine celebrations or public remarks as a pretext for provocation would undermine peace and stability Beijing’s expected use of President William Lai’s (賴清德) Double Ten National Day speech today as a pretext for provocative measures would undermine peace and stability, the US Department of State said on Tuesday. Taiwanese officials have said that China is likely to launch military drills near Taiwan in response to Lai’s speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims. A state department spokesperson said it could not speculate on what China would or would not do. “However, it is worth emphasizing that using routine annual celebrations or public remarks as a pretext or excuse for provocative or coercive
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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