■AUTOMAKERS
Nissan slashing production
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday it would slash domestic production by 64,000 vehicles next month and in March to trim inventories and adjust to a drastic slide in global demand. The bad news comes on the heels of media reports yesterday that Japan’s No. 3 automaker was likely to post an operating loss in the fiscal year through March, joining a growing list of big Japanese corporate names expected to slide into the red. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s top-selling newspaper, and Kyodo News agency reported Nissan would sink into operating losses for the fiscal year through March. That would mark its first operating loss under chief executive Carlos Ghosn.
■STEEL
POSCO sales hit record
South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO said yesterday its net profit and sales hit a record high last year, helped by high prices in the first nine months. Net profit was 4.45 trillion won (US$3.24 billion) last year, up 21 percent from 3.68 trillion won a year earlier, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker said. Operating profit jumped 52 percent year-on-year to 6.54 trillion won. Sales soared 38 percent to an all-time high of 30.6 trillion won. POSCO attributed the good results to a cost-saving drive, strong sales of value-added products, and high prices before demand fell sharply in the fourth quarter. It predicted sales would fall by up to 12 percent this year.
■NEW ZEALAND
PM warns of stagnation
The country faces the prospect of no economic growth and a jump in unemployment this year because of the impact of the global financial crisis, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday. Key said the international situation had deteriorated since last month and that the country was moving closer to the “downside scenario” put forward by the Treasury at the end of last year. “If that scenario plays out, the economy in 2009 will stand still,” he said at a press conference after meeting senior economic ministers. He said unemployment could rise to 7 percent later in the year from the latest figure of 4.2 percent and rise to 7.5 percent next year.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Sanyo to cut 1,200 jobs
Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday it would cut 1,200 jobs in Japan and overseas as part of efforts to turn around its struggling semiconductor operations amid the economic downturn. “In our semiconductor and related businesses we will cut 800 domestic positions and 400 positions overseas — in total 1,200 — including regular and temporary workers,” Sanyo vice president Koichi Maeda told a news conference. Earlier in the day Sanyo, which is being bought by rival Panasonic Corp, forecast zero net profit for the current financial year to March owing to weak sales of electronics devices and semiconductors, as well as the stronger yen.
■CHINA
Economy takes a hard hit
Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach said yesterday that China, which relies heavily on its export sector, had been hit particularly hard by the slowdown. The country’s growth in the second half of the year “basically went to zero,” Roach said. “For an economy that needs 6 percent growth to prevent unemployment from rising and to limit the outbreak of social instability, a major shortfall we saw in China in the second half of last year is very, very worrisome,” he said. He said Beijing needed a strong fiscal stimulus package, but also had to focus on boosting consumer spending.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College