■INSURANCE
AIA plans HK stock offering
AIA, the Asian unit of troubled US insurer American International Group (AIG), will launch a US$15 billion share sale on Oct. 29 in what could be the world’s second-biggest stock offering this year, reports said yesterday. The insurer was seeking approval from Hong Kong’s bourse yesterday with plans to set a price range next week, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported, both citing unnamed sources. If approved, AIA will start investor presentations on Oct. 6, the Journal reported. AIA is also hoping to sign an agreement next week with so-called cornerstone investors — generally institutional buyers — who could pick up as much as one-fifth of the offering, the Financial Times said.
■AUTOMAKERS
China fines Toyota financing
Chinese authorities have fined Japanese automaker Toyota’s financing unit for commercial bribery after it paid dealers for directing loan business its way, state media reported yesterday. Toyota Motor Finance (China) Co gave rebates to three dealers after they had steered their customers to borrow money from Toyota rather than local banks between August 2008 and April this year, the official Xinhua news agency said. Authorities fined Toyota Motor Finance — a subsidiary of Toyota Financial Services — 140,000 yuan (US$20,850) and confiscated its illegal earnings of 426,352 yuan.
■INTERNET
Google Apps has 30m users
Google Inc said on Monday that more than 30 million people are using Google Apps, as the company unveiled enhanced security features for the Web-based suite of office tools. “As of today, more than three million businesses have gone Google, and over 30 million users within businesses, schools and organizations now depend on our messaging and collaboration tools,” Google said in a blog post. Google Apps include products or services such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs and are seen as the Mountain View, California company’s challenge to Microsoft’s popular Office software.
■ ENERGY
Gazprom eyes partnership
Russia’s state-owned natural gas monopoly Gazprom has hinted it may invite Japanese firms to participate in the Sakhalin 3 project if foreign support is deemed necessary, Japan’s Nikkei business daily said yesterday. Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told the paper that his shortlist includes Japanese trading giants Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp as well as Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Medvedev called the Sakhalin 2 project, in which liquefied natural gas output has reached full capacity, “a good example of Russia-Japan cooperation,” the report said. In the Sakhalin 3 project, Gazprom is now test-drilling the Kirinsky field by itself.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Nokia denies N8 delay
Nokia said yesterday that reports of a delay in the launch of its new N8 mobile phone, seen as a key product needed to boost the company’s fortunes, are inaccurate. The N8 is a competitor to the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-platform smartphones. “We have said we expect to ship the N8 by the end of the third quarter and that hasn’t changed,” Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson said. He said that the misunderstanding has arisen from the fact that Nokia’s marketing department informed customers who pre-ordered the phone that they should expect them next moth. He added that a number of factors affect delivery, such as shipping and customs arrangements.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
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