■ CHINA
Wal-Mart still in the game
Wal-Mart Stores Inc expects procurement in China to hold steady this year at about US$9 billion despite a rising exchange rate and product safety concerns, vice chairman Michael Duke said yesterday. Chinese suppliers have stayed competitive amid higher inflation and a rise in the yuan by improving efficiency and product quality, he said. "I wouldn't see any major variation" in procurement from last year's total of US$9 billion, he said. "China will continue to be a major production portion of direct purchases by Wal-Mart for a long time."
■ METALS
Power cuts trim jobs
Gold Fields Ltd, Africa's second-biggest gold producer, said it may eliminate 6,900 jobs, or 13 percent of its South African workforce, as limited power supplies reduce production. The company plans to close part of its Driefontein and Kloof mines and remodel its South Deep mine, it said in a statement to Johannesburg's Stock Exchange News Service yesterday. Gold Fields is the first major company to announce job cuts as a result of Eskom Holdings Ltd limiting power supplies to mines in South Africa to 90 percent of normal consumption.
■ ENERGY
Rains cut coal output
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's biggest mining company, said rainfall in Queensland is expected to cut its share of coal production by as much as 4.6 million tonnes this business year. Total production at the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance venture will be reduced by between 6.5 million and 7.5 million tonnes in the year ending June 30, BHP Billiton said yesterday in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Output at BHP Billiton Mitsui-owned mines will also be cut by between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes, it said. At least six coal suppliers in Queensland have warned customers they may miss contracted deliveries from some mines in the Australian state since monsoonal rains affected the Bowen Basin last month. The disruptions have helped drive spot prices for power-station coal and the type used in steelmaking to a record.
■ BANKING
Bank to sue informant
The Liechtenstein bank at the center of a tax evasion dispute with Germany said on Sunday it will sue the person it suspects of selling confidential information to German intelligence. LGT Group, which is wholly owned by the principality's ruling family, said it would file charges against a former employee convicted of stealing DVDs containing the names of 1,400 customers of its subsidiary LGT Treuhand. The bank identified the employee as a Liechtenstein citizen and said it believed until recently that the stolen information had been returned when the man was convicted in 2004 of serious fraud, harassment and sequestering documents and sentenced to a suspended one-year prison term.
■ THAILAND
Exports boost economy
The economy grew a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier on robust exports and a recovery in private investment and consumer spending, the government said yesterday. Exports rose strongly despite the baht's appreciation over the last two years and fears about a global economic slowdown. The economic planning agency raised its growth forecast for this year to 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent, up from an earlier projection of 4 percent to 5 percent.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
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