Honda Motor Co, suffering from a 38 percent plunge in US auto sales last month, may ask to borrow money from Japan’s government to lend to US car buyers.
The amount of the loans and timing of the request to the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation have not yet been determined, spokeswoman Akemi Ando said by phone yesterday.
Mazda Motor Corp is also considering a request for government loans, spokesman Toyota Tanaka said yesterday.
Honda and Mazda would follow Toyota Motor Corp, Japan’s biggest carmaker, in seeking loans from the government as the global recession hammers auto demand. Toyota’s financial unit may ask for ¥200 billion (US$2 billion) in loans, public broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday, without citing anyone.
“Things look pretty grim at present,” said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp in Tokyo, which manages US$3.1 billion. “By the end of the year, the year-on-year figures should start improving unless the world economy gets much worse.”
Honda may request at least ¥10 billion from the government, the Nikkei newspaper said yesterday, without citing sources.
Mazda, the Japanese carmaker partially owned by Ford Motor Co, increasingly needs the funds, mainly in the US and Europe, Tanaka said in a phone interview.
No details have been decided regarding a request for government funding, he said.
Japan will use some of its foreign-exchange reserves to lend to the state-owned bank that gives financing to Japanese companies operating abroad, Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Tuesday.
The ministry may lend about US$5 billion to the bank this month, he said.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
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