■CHINA
China leads exporters
China is now the world’s leading exporter ahead of Germany, trade figures released yesterday by the German national statistics office showed. In the 11 months from January to November, Chinese exports reached a total value of US$1.07 trillion, while German exports amounted to 734.6 billion euros, or US$1.05 trillion, the data showed. In November, the German trade surplus nonetheless climbed to 17.2 billion euros, according to seasonally corrected figures from the Destatis service, from 13.6 billion euros in October.
■BELGIUM
InBev bosses held hostage
Workers at an Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in eastern Belgium took their bosses hostage on Thursday after the world’s biggest brewer announced a tenth of the company’s 3,000 employees in Belgium will be laid off, local media reported. “We are demanding that the [company’s] senior managers come here and call off the layoffs,” Marc Devenne, a union representative was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
■MEXICO
Starbucks ‘violates’ IPR
Starbucks Corp’s Mexico unit says it is willing to pay for permission to sell coffee mugs featuring pre-Hispanic images, after the Mexican government notified it about potential violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). Starbucks said on Thursday it regrets any misunderstanding, and “we are willing to pay the appropriate amount for the use of these images.” Mexico’s government archeological agency says the images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan are the intellectual property of the nation. The agency will decide how much Starbucks should pay.
■AVIATION
Boeing orders fall
Boeing Co said its customers ordered just 142 commercial airplanes last year as the recession forced airlines to shrink. The net total reported on Thursday was Boeing’s lowest since at least 2003 and just one-tenth of the 1,413 orders in 2007. Meanwhile, Boeing delivered 481 commercial planes last year, up 28 percent after a massive strike in 2008 slowed production. Boeing had predicted 480 to 485 deliveries for the year. Competitor Airbus will report last year’s orders and deliveries on Tuesday.
■ELECTRONICS
Yahoo eyes TV jump
Yahoo announced partnerships with television and other device manufacturers on Thursday as the Internet company joins others seeking to jump from the computer to the TV screen. “Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV and demanding Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience,” said Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo Connected TV. Yahoo said the online programs known as “widgets” for the increasing number of Web-capable televisions would be embedded in more models and include video on demand, social networks, games and online shopping.
■UNITED STATES
Bankruptcies spiked last year
The number of US corporate bankruptcies spiked to 207 last year, the third-largest total on record, led by the massive General Motors filing, a research firm said on Thursday. BankruptcyData.com said the number of publicly traded companies filing for bankruptcy protection last year jumped significantly from 138 a year earlier. It was the third-largest total on record.
‘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
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
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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