■BANKING
HK yuan deposits soar
Hong Kong could draw as much as US$14.7 billion worth of yuan-denominated bank deposits this year, underscoring the territory’s growing dominance as an offshore center for the currency. Deposits reached 89.7 billion yuan at the end of June, according to government statistics. The total was likely to climb as high as 100 billion yuan (US$14.70 billion) by year’s end, Xinhua news agency said, citing a Hong Kong Association of Banks official. The association hoped more institutions would issue yuan-denominated bonds in the territory, Xinhua quoted the official as saying on Saturday. Hong Kong’s securities regulator has approved the territory’s first yuan-denominated fund, run by the local unit of China’s Haitong Securities Co (海通證券), in another sign of Beijing’s bid to make the yuan a major global currency. HSBC Holdings PLC plans to sell its first yuan-denominated certificates of deposit in Hong Kong starting today, according to an e-mailed statement yesterday. The six-month 2 percent notes will be available to retail and commercial investors at all HSBC branches, according to the statement. The minimum subscription amount is 50,000 yuan, the statement said.
■AUSTRALIA
David Jones offers to settle
The nation’s poshest department store has offered to settle a A$33 million (US$30.3 million) lawsuit brought over the alleged sexual harassment of a publicist by its former head, a report said yesterday. David Jones has offered Kristy Fraser-Kirk “less than a million [Australian] dollars — or about 3 percent of what she was hoping for” to settle the nation’s largest sexual harassment claim, the Sun-Herald newspaper reported. The department store was not immediately available for comment, but the Sunday Telegraph revealed that Fraser-Kirk had filed a harassment complaint against a former colleague when she worked for a police force.
■ENERGY
Linc seeks partner
Linc Energy Ltd, a clean fuel company, may seek a partner to help develop its planned A$1 billion commercial coal gas-to-liquids plant amid surging construction costs. “We don’t want a partner who will just bring money,” chief executive officer Peter Bond said yesterday in an interview on Australian Broadcasting Corp television. Brisbane-based Linc wants a partner who also can add technology and help with distribution, he said. Linc last week agreed to sell a coal asset in Australia for A$3 billion to India’s Adani Enterprises Ltd. The company has a demonstration plant in Chinchilla, Queensland state, which uses underground coal gasification and gas-to-liquids technology to produce fuels.
■ENVIRONMENT
POSCO suspension appealed
Orissa State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appealed to New Delhi to overturn an environmental order halting construction of a US$12 billion iron ore project by South Korea’s POSCO. Patnaik sought Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assistance in allowing work to continue on the project, the Press Trust of India reported on Saturday. Patnaik accused the environment ministry of being guided by the recommendation of a “committee of NGOs,” adding the move could hurt the flow of foreign investment to the country. POSCO’s planned steel plant has been hailed as India’s largest foreign investment in the past 20 years.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
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