■CHINA
China leads exporters
China is now the world’s leading exporter ahead of Germany, trade figures released yesterday by the German national statistics office showed. In the 11 months from January to November, Chinese exports reached a total value of US$1.07 trillion, while German exports amounted to 734.6 billion euros, or US$1.05 trillion, the data showed. In November, the German trade surplus nonetheless climbed to 17.2 billion euros, according to seasonally corrected figures from the Destatis service, from 13.6 billion euros in October.
■BELGIUM
InBev bosses held hostage
Workers at an Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in eastern Belgium took their bosses hostage on Thursday after the world’s biggest brewer announced a tenth of the company’s 3,000 employees in Belgium will be laid off, local media reported. “We are demanding that the [company’s] senior managers come here and call off the layoffs,” Marc Devenne, a union representative was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
■MEXICO
Starbucks ‘violates’ IPR
Starbucks Corp’s Mexico unit says it is willing to pay for permission to sell coffee mugs featuring pre-Hispanic images, after the Mexican government notified it about potential violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). Starbucks said on Thursday it regrets any misunderstanding, and “we are willing to pay the appropriate amount for the use of these images.” Mexico’s government archeological agency says the images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan are the intellectual property of the nation. The agency will decide how much Starbucks should pay.
■AVIATION
Boeing orders fall
Boeing Co said its customers ordered just 142 commercial airplanes last year as the recession forced airlines to shrink. The net total reported on Thursday was Boeing’s lowest since at least 2003 and just one-tenth of the 1,413 orders in 2007. Meanwhile, Boeing delivered 481 commercial planes last year, up 28 percent after a massive strike in 2008 slowed production. Boeing had predicted 480 to 485 deliveries for the year. Competitor Airbus will report last year’s orders and deliveries on Tuesday.
■ELECTRONICS
Yahoo eyes TV jump
Yahoo announced partnerships with television and other device manufacturers on Thursday as the Internet company joins others seeking to jump from the computer to the TV screen. “Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV and demanding Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience,” said Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo Connected TV. Yahoo said the online programs known as “widgets” for the increasing number of Web-capable televisions would be embedded in more models and include video on demand, social networks, games and online shopping.
■UNITED STATES
Bankruptcies spiked last year
The number of US corporate bankruptcies spiked to 207 last year, the third-largest total on record, led by the massive General Motors filing, a research firm said on Thursday. BankruptcyData.com said the number of publicly traded companies filing for bankruptcy protection last year jumped significantly from 138 a year earlier. It was the third-largest total on record.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘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
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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