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Vol. 4 :: No. 1 January,
2002 (Paush
- Magh)
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World Brief
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World Brief |
| Taiwan in WTO
With Taiwan formally joining the World Trade Organisation on New Year its leaders hoped the diplomatically isolated island could usher in a new era and become a player on the world stage. Taiwan has been barred from most international organisations because China considers the self-ruling island part of its territory and not a country on it sown right. But Bejjing has made exceptions for bodies that deal exclusively with economic issues. Still, Taiwan’s WTO membership was long held up because China insisted that it should join first. To gain WTO membership, Taiwan has reduced tariff on thousands of farm and industrial products it is reported. It will also strengthen protection of international property rights and improve access to its markets for foreign companies. Beginning this months, potatoes, apples and other foreign farm produce will appear on supermarket shelves, and foreign cars will arrive on Taiwanses streets, it is believed. But absent from the market will be Qingdao beer, peanuts, garlic and other Chinese food exports that many Taiwanese have been eager to consume. Taiwan has hoped to discuss its opening its market to China, but China has been reluctant to hold talks with Taiwan at the WTO forum, fearing this could give legitimacy to the Taiwan government. Taiwanese officials have said the island still plans to open its market for Chinese goods "step by step." Taiwan recently eased limits imposed on investments in China by lifting a $ 50 million cap on any single investment. New Year Marks Euro Debut The largest currency swap in history gathered speed as New Year’s revelers in 12 European countries got their first look at new euro notes and coins. The flow of money was expected to pick up sharply from January 2 when the holiday ends and business and work begin again The euro was in fact introduced in 1999, when national currencies were pegged to it at fixed rates and ceased to trade independently. That made them in essence local versions of the euro. European officials hope that using one common currency will spur economic growth by eliminating the risks of crossborder currency ups and downs. And bring Europeans closer together politically. China Lifts Diamond Import Duty China will lift its import tax on uncut diamonds imported by the customs of Shanghai Diamond Exchange from January, 2002, the Liberation Daily has reported. At the same time, the government will temporarily lift the consumption tax on imported diamonds and collect a five-percent tax on diamond retail sales instead, the Wen Hui Daily said in a separate report. Current import duties are: three percent for raw diamonds, non-refined or simply-refined diamonds for industrial use including natural or synthetic diamond power, six percent for synthetic or reproduced diamond power, six percent for synthetic or reproduced diamond for industrial use, and eight percent for synthetic or diamonds reproduced for other uses. China’s Economy to Grow 7.4 Pc Rising domestic investment and consumption will drive China’s estimated economic growth of 7.4 percent the current fiscal year, a report by the State Council Development Research Centre has said. Fixed asset investment would rise about 13.5 percent this year, said the report published in the China Securities News. This investment was mainly funded by the issue of 50 billion yuan (6.04 billion dollars) worth of state bonds at the second half of 2000 and 150 billion yuan in state bonds used for infrastructure construction. Consumption was expected to rise 9.2 percent from 2000 with consumer prices for the first nine months up 1.0 percent from the same period of last year. However, the research center estimated consumer prices might fall for the last quarter of the year due to the knock-on effects of a drop in international prices of primary products. Some industries have fared well despite the global economic downturn, with electronics and telecommunications production rising 28.2 percent in the first three quarters to reach 614.6 billion yuan. A slowdown in exports, which are seen falling by 8.5 billion dollars from last year, has hurt economic growth, the report added, noting exports of electric appliances will remain as the main driver of growth in 2002. Shanghai Satellite TV to Broadcast in Japan The Shanghai Broadcasting Network (SBN), a satellite TV service, has been licensed to broadcast in Japan from December 15, 2001, officials at the station said. In an agreement, SBN won the right to broadcast in Japan and air programs but will officially launch the service and begin collecting fees from 2002. Wu Sihai, Japanese program director of SBN said that the programs will initially be broadcast in Chinese with Japanese subtitles and added the station was mulling plans to add more Japanese language programs in the future, but would need to recruit more staff to do so. SBN broadcasts a current affairs show called "The Bridge Between China and Japan" on Sunday night which is followed by Japanese dramas shows. SBN is the second Chinese satellite TV service provider permitted by the Japanese government to telecast in Japan. The first was China Central Television (CCTV), China’s largest TV operator. China Mobile to Buy Eight Provincial Mobile Networks China’s largest mobile phone operator, China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., has announced that it may buy all or part of the mobile telecom firms in eight provinces from its parent, China Mobile Communications Corp. China Mobile, however, did not say when the acquisition of the companies in Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi and Shanxi would go ahead. The Hong Kong-listed firm had already bought seven provincial mobile phone networks in late 2000 from its parent China Mobile Communications, controlled by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry. China Mobile said in a statement that if such an acquisition is implemented, the company may utilise some of its internal financial resources and may conduct external fund raising for part of the funding requirement. Kodak, Sanyo to Tie up Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. and US photographic equipment giant Eastman Kodak Co. said they will form a joint venture to make next-generation display screens. Sanyo and Kodak have set up SK Display Co. Ltd. in December, 2001 in Japan to make organic electroluminescent (EL) panels to be used for mobile phones and digital cameras, the two firms said in a joint statement. Kodak holds basic patents for organic EL displays, which are touted as a potential replacement for liquid crystal displays (LCDs), SK said. Sanyo holds a 66 percent stake in SK Display, with Kodak taking the rest. The new venture will employ some 400 workers and start production in February 2002, the company revealed. The two firms aim to generate annual sales of 70 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 2006, according to the statement. By 2005, the global EL display market is estimated to be worth 300 billion yen. US Steel Companies Announce Merger Talks Buffeted by foreign competition, two leading US steelmakers announced they had begun merger talks as part of efforts to achieve greater consolidation of the national steel industry. In a statement released simultaneously in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Mishawaka, Indiana, the US Steel and National Steel Corporations said that the deal was not yet in the offing. But US Steel acknowledged that it had entered talks with NKK Corporation of Japan, the owner of National Steel, regarding a possible acquisition of the Indiana-based concern. Any acquisition would be contingent on a number of significant conditions, including a substantial restructuring of National Steel’s debt and other obligations, US Steel cautioned. Enron to Sell Assets Bankrupt energy firm Enron has unveiled to creditors a plan to sell up to six billion dollars of assets and reorganize around core operations in a bid to restructure its way out of bankruptcy court within a year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Enron will also seek to sell control of its energy trading business that some of Enron’s bankers have considered bidding for, the newspaper said, citing comments by chief financial officer Jeffrey McMahon at a meeting with creditors. Enron also gave the creditors the first detailed breakdown of overall debt. As of Nov 16, 2001, it had total debts of US$ 39.71 billion, the newspaper quoted the company as saying. Of this, roughly 22 billion is in the form of bank debt, commodity-transaction financing, bonds and other public securities, the report added. The remainder is made up of roughly seven billion dollars in bonds and bank debt linked to other assets in special partnerships, and build power plants or oil refineries. AT&T, Comsat Merger Creates Cable Behemoth Five months after being rejected in its bid to buy AT&T’s cable division, Comcast Corp convinced AT&T’s board to approve a $52 billion deal to create a cable behemoth, it is reported. The merger is said to be the largest announced in 2001 and would create a combined company with 22.3 million cable subscribers, much bigger than AOL’s Time Warner Cable, which has 12.7 million subscribers, the report says. The deal, announced recently, ended a bidding contest for AT&T Broadband that started five months ago when No. 3 cable operator Comcast mounted a $41 billion hostile bid for AT&T’s cable unit. Offers from bidders AOL Time Warner and Cox Communications were rejected by the AT&T board. The company is said to be named AT&T Comcast Corp. New York-based AT&T said in a statement that it will spin off its cable division and simultaneously merge it with Philadelphia-based Comcast. The deal also includes AT&T’s 25 percent stake in Time Warner Entertainment and the assumption of $ 20 billion in AT&T debt. Microsoft Corp’s $ 5 billion stake in AT&T Broadband will be converted into shares of the new company, the company said. The new company is expected to have cable subscribers in 17 of the country’s 20 largest metropolitan areas and a presence in 41 states. Under the terms of the deal, it is reported, AT&T shareholders will receive about 34 percent shares of AT&T Comcast Corp for each share of AT&T they own, while Comcast shareholders will get one share of AT&T Comcast Corp shares for each Comcast share. AT&T’s shareholders will own a 56 percent stake in the company and a 66 percent voting interest. -By Business Age Reporters |
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