■BEVERAGES
Foreigners eye Coke bid
Foreign firms are keeping a close watch on the fate of Coca-Cola’s bid for Chinese juice producer Huiyuan (匯源) as suspicions about economic nationalism increase, a European business group said yesterday. “Economic nationalism appears to be a growing concern,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce, at the launch of the 2008 European Business in China Position Paper in Beijing. “Of course, M&A [merger and acquisition] is a very difficult point,” he said. “Therefore we do watch the ongoing Coca-Cola Huiyuan case very closely to see if that is done by the law.”
■SHIPBUILDING
South Korea tops orders
South Korean yards won half of the world’s shipbuilding orders in the first half of this year, strengthening the country’s dominance in the industry, the government said yesterday. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the shipbuilding industry said yards secured orders for 12.4 million compensated gross tonnes, or 50.6 percent of the world total. It said overall global demand fell sharply compared with last year, but the proportion of orders won by local companies increased. Last year South Korea secured 38.9 percent of all orders placed against 37.3 percent for its main rival China. In the first half China’s share dipped to 34.3 percent.
■ENERGY
BG admits defeat
British gas firm BG Group conceded yesterday that its hostile bid for Australia’s Origin Energy would fail because it would not raise its offer after Origin teamed up with US oil giant ConocoPhillips. “The price implied by this newly announced joint venture is higher than BG Group is able to justify,” BG Group chief executive Frank Chapman said in a statement. “We have therefore decided not to extend or amend our offer, which we expect will now lapse” when its term expires on Sept. 26.
■FINANCE
IMF deputy backs takeover
The US government’s move to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will help shore up the housing market, the banking system and the wider economy, a senior IMF official said yesterday. In the text of a speech in Frankfurt, IMF first deputy managing director John Lipksy also said the two mortgage giants would need to be restructured over the longer term. “The intervention in [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] and the broader support to the mortgage market should stabilize [their] balance sheets and the funding of mortgages in the near term,” Lipsky said. “This will help underpin the US housing market, the banking system, and the broader economy.”
■ENERGY
Shell, Iraq to form venture
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed on a gas joint venture with Iraq worth up to US$4 billion, the Iraqi oil ministry and the Financial Times said yesterday. The deal, which will see the gas extracted from Iraqi fields being both sold in Iraq and abroad, will be signed next month, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. Shell will become the first Western oil group to sign a deal with Baghdad since the US-led invasion of 2003, with a venture the Financial Times estimated at about US$4 billion. Iraq’s Cabinet has agreed to the contract, which gives the state-owned Southern Oil Company 51 percent and Shell 49 percent in the venture.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
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