■ ECONOM
Japan’s GDP growth higher
Japan raised its reading for economic growth in the first quarter, due mainly to a stronger-than-expected increase in capital investment. Japan’s GDP in the January to March period grew at an annual pace of 4 percent, up from a preliminary reading of 3.3 percent, revised figures released yesterday by the Cabinet Office showed. On a quarterly basis, GDP grew a revised 1 percent. Growth in capital expenditures was a key factor in the revised GDP figures. They posted a 0.2 percent quarterly rise, markedly better than a preliminary reading of a 0.9 decline, the government said.
■PRODUCTION
Chavez favors cooperation
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is encouraging Venezuela’s private sector to work with his government to create new businesses and factories that would produce consumer goods. The socialist president said he was open to joint ventures with private companies in “non-strategic” areas of the economy. He gave no other details. Chavez on Tuesday said he hoped the cooperation would spur growth, which hit a four-year low of 4.8 percent in the first quarter. Annual inflation in the oil-rich country reached 29.3 percent in April. Chavez has nationalized the country’s largest steel, cement and electricity companies in the last two years.
■MANUFACTURING
Beijing slaps toy factories
Beijing has revoked the export licenses of 700 toy factories over safety failings, state media reported yesterday, after a series of high-profile scandals hit the image of Chinese goods overseas. Beijing launched a massive campaign to inspect all 3,540 toy firms with export permits last August after tens of millions of Chinese-made toys were recalled globally over design or manufacturing flaws. It barred 700 firms — nearly one in five — from exporting because they failed to meet safety standards, the China Daily quoted a senior safety official as saying. China exported about 22 billion toys globally every year, a quarter of which went to Europe, the China Daily said.
■FOREX
China eyes US portfolio
China’s foreign exchange regulator is to invest more than US$2.5 billion in the latest portfolio launched by US private equity fund TPG, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The fund that China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) plans to invest in is worth US$17 billion, the report said, citing unnamed sources. The administration manages the bulk of China’s US$1.76 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. SAFE has kept a low investment profile but previously built up small stakes in French oil giant Total and British energy giant BP, earlier media reports said.
■TAKEOVERS
Distributor mulls Staples deal
The Dutch office supplies distributor Corporate Express NV said yesterday it would recommend a 9.25 euros per share takeover bid by Staples Inc to shareholders, reversing an earlier plan to merge with a French competitor. The boards of Corporate Express said they decided to endorse the Staples deal after the US company raised its offer for the fourth time to 9.25 euros per share. Including Corporate Express debt, the offer values the company at about 3.1 billion euros (US$4.8 billion), the companies said in a joint statement. The companies said they “have agreed on a number of key issues with regard to strategy, employees and integration process.”
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS