■Automakers
Hyundai issues US recall
Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea’s largest automaker, will recall about 139,500 cars in the US because of steering issues that could result in a loss of or reduction in maneuvering capability, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The model-year 2011 Sonata sedans manufactured between Dec. 11 last year and Sept. 10, are subject to the plan, the agency said in a statement on its Web site. Hyundai Motor America informed the agency it is voluntarily initiating a safety recall of Sonata sedans to inspect the steering issues, Hyundai Motor said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
■Automakers
Ford plans new China plant
US auto giant Ford Motor Co said on Saturday that it signed an agreement with Chinese officials to open a second engine plant in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Plant construction is set to begin next year, with engine production scheduled to begin in 2013, the company said in a statement. The US$500 million investment will be funded entirely by Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Ltd (CFMA) — a three-way joint venture involving Ford, Changan Motors and Mazda Motor Co — and located in Chongqing’s New North Zone. “With the additional capacity of 400,000 units at the new plant, CFMA is more than doubling its existing engine capacity of 350,000, to 750,000 engines annually,” Ford said.
■Banking
German banks worry officials
European Commission officials are worried about the fragility of three regional banks in Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. A letter from the commission to State Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Joerg Asmussen expresses concerns about the threat that WestLB, BayernLB and HSH Nordbank might pose to market stability. “For the commission, it is indispensable to have the certainty that rescued institutions are viable in the long term and that they do not represent a permanent threat to the stability of the financial markets,” the letter said. Describing the three banks’ latest results as “disappointing,” the letter adds: “Given the good current conditions, these figures, in the three cases, are not convincing.”
■Banking
China starts inter-bank loans
China has begun allowing banks to sell loans to each other, in a move designed to reduce financial risks and help banks meet stricter capital requirements, the central bank said on Saturday. The interbank loan transfer system launched in Shanghai will also help improve monetary policy transmission and strengthen control in the financial sector, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) said in a statement. The system launched amid growing concerns among policymakers about the potential for an explosion of bad debts in the banking sector, after new loans nearly doubled to 9.6 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) last year.
■Communications
UAE says RIM talks ‘positive’
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is “very optimistic” about reaching an accord with Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) to solve a dispute about BlackBerry services in the country, Abu Dhabi Executive Council secretary-general Mohammed Ahmed al-Bowardi said. “Talks are very advanced and positive,” al-Bowardi told reporters in Abu Dhabi yesterday. “We are very optimistic it will be resolved before the deadline.” BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and Web browsing services will be halted in the UAE on Oct. 11.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft