■ AVIATION
Airport operators swap shares
The state-owned company that runs Paris’ airports and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport operator will take stakes in each other’s companies in a deal meant to make them more competitive, the French Finance Ministry said yesterday. In a statement, the ministry said the boards of both companies had approved an “industrial partnership project.” The French government will cede 8 percent of its majority stake in Aeroports de Paris (AdP) to Schiphol Group for 67 euros (US$89.94) per share, or about 530 million euros, the statement said. AdP will then obtain 8 percent of Schiphol’s capital for about 370 million euros. The French government will retain 60 percent of AdP’s capital after the deal and intends to remain the chief stakeholder, the ministry said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Nissan cuts production
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday it would cut Japanese production of large and luxury cars meant for export to the US as demand slows in the world’s largest economy. Nissan will reduce production of its Infinity brand luxury cars and its Murano and Rogue sports utility vehicles by a total of 65,000 units between next month and March. The cuts would reduce Nissan’s total output in Japan by 4.7 percent from the 1.388 million vehicles it initially planned to produce in the year through March. Nissan is also considering cutting jobs for some of its 2,000 temporary workers at the plants, the company said.
■ SAFETY
Chinese cribs recalled
China, embroiled in a tainted milk scandal that has made thousand of babies sick, said it took product safety very seriously, especially where children were concerned, after a new report about faulty Chinese-made cribs. New York-based Delta Enterprises recalled on Monday almost 1.6 million cribs made in China, Indonesia and Taiwan after it said two babies died. It did not give details. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said he had no information on the cribs but urged consumers and producers to report faulty products. The crib recall is one of the largest in US history and follows another recall of 2,000 cribs, also made in China, issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday.
■ RATINGS
South Korea retains A+
Fitch Ratings affirmed South Korea’s credit rating, saying the US$130 billion financial-rescue package announced this week was “sufficiently focused and affordable.” Fitch kept its A+ rating, the fifth-highest of 10 investment grades, on South Korea’s foreign currency debt. The government on Sunday pledged to guarantee US$100 billion in banks’ foreign-currency debt and said it would provide US$30 billion in US dollars to banks. The measures “are sufficiently focused and affordable to be consistent with [South] Korea’s current sovereign ratings,” Fitch said in a statement yesterday.
■ ELECTRONICS
CE sales growth halves
Consumer electronics sales are expected to grow 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, half the growth rate for the holiday season last year, a trade industry group said on Monday. The Consumer Electonics Association (CEA) said that while consumers were expecting to spend nearly US$200 less this holiday season than last year, they plan to spend more on consumer electronics. The CEA study found that 28 percent of the total holiday budget was being allocated for consumer electronics purchases, an increase of 6 percent from last year.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS