■ ECONOMY
Hu welcomes US plan
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) told his US counterpart George W. Bush yesterday that China welcomed Washington’s efforts to stabilize US financial markets and hoped they succeed, state media reported. Hu, who received a phone call from Bush, also said a US economic recovery would be good for China, state TV said. “We have noticed the important measures adopted by the United States to stabilize its financial markets and we hope these measures will have an impact soon and lead to an improvement and recovery of the US economy,” Hu was quoted as telling Bush. “This is in line with US interests, and it’s also in line with Chinese interests,” Hu said.
■ EQUITIES
S&P 500 could rally: broker
The S&P 500 could rally to between 1,300 and 1,350 following the government bailout, Credit Suisse Group AG strategists wrote in a research note on Friday. Other positive factors for global equities include the fall in the oil price and China’s monetary easing, the team wrote. “Structural problems remain. We believe the S&P 500 is capped at 1,350,” Credit Suisse said. “Hence, the market is ‘range bound’ as opposed to being in a ‘bull’ market.”
■ BANKING
DB gets stake in Postbank
The biggest German bank, Deutsche Bank (DB), said yesterday it will issue up to 40 million new shares to pay for its purchase of a stake in Postbank. Deutsche Bank said it would raise around 2 billion euros (US$2.9 billion) from the transaction, allowing it to maintain a “strong equity capitalization” even after paying 2.8 billion euros for 29.75 percent of Postbank. Details on the operation’s timing were not provided, but Deutsche Bank said it would sell the shares quickly and directly to institutional investors. “There will be no public offering,” a statement said. Deutsche Bank has an option to purchase another 18 percent of the shares in Postbank, but if the stake surpasses 30 percent, Deutsche Bank will be obliged to make an offer for all remaining shares listed on Germany’s DAX 30 index.
■ BEVERAGES
PepsiCo invests in India
US soft drinks giant PepsiCo Sunday announced plans to invest US$500 million in India over the next three years, a report said on Sunday. The fresh injection of funds is expected to generate tens of thousands of new jobs in India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting chief executive Indra Nooyi. “As a tangible sign of our continued confidence in India, I am delighted to announce that we will be investing US$500 million in the next three years with the goal of tripling our business here,” Nooyi was quoted as telling reporters in New Delhi. The investment would be spent on increasing manufacturing capacity and market infrastructure as well as research, product development and agriculture, the report said.
■ ENERGY
SK Energy eyes batteries
SK Energy Co, South Korea’s biggest oil refiner, is in talks with automakers to jointly develop batteries that will power gasoline-electric hybrid cars. “We’re tapping various opportunities with a number of automakers, but nothing has been decided,” Kim Woo-kyung, a spokeswoman at the Seoul-based company, said in response to a report by the Korea Economic Daily. SK Energy and Daimler AG may jointly develop lithium-ion polymer batteries for hybrid cars, the Korean-language newspaper reported today, citing company president Koo Ja-young.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’