- IV.
International
. The Asian nations are pursuing an entirely rational
strategy that seeks to maximize domestic employment rather than
financial return. The dollar is playing much the same stabilizing
role it did 50 years ago during the golden days of Bretton Woods.
. Asian
shrimp exporters in Thailand, China, India & Vietnam
said US anti-dumping lawsuit is an example of blatant
protectionism, and vowed to keep overseas shrimp on American
dinner plates.
.
Ban on US beef by many foreign countries resulted in turning back
2200 container loads headed for the Pacific Rim. Each
container carries between 90
to 100 million pounds. Japan & Korea alone buy $300
million worth of meat.
.
Movie & music piracy access is widely common in a few Asian
countries, such as S. Korea, China, India &
Philippines. Almost 2/3 of S. Korean homes have
high-speed Internet access making it easier to download pirated
movies & music from the Internet.
. Bank
of China,
the nation’s largest lender, got a $20 billion govt. bailout to
reduce $400 of bad loans before an IPO of stocks in 2005, said a
bank executive.
. Premier
Wen Jiabao of China arrived in Mexico in a bid to extend a
string of diplomatic & economic successes in North America.
This currently may prove his toughest sale.
. China is launching a crackdown on
piracy of Internet-based games, saying violators are threatening
to ruin a promising $250 million-a-year industry, state media
said.
. After 13 months, China ended duties
of up to 26% on steel imports, an expected response to the Bush
Adm. dropping its controversial steel tariffs in early Dec. China
is a huge steel user with an ever-growing appetite.
.
China’s foreign trade is expected to top $840 billion,
with exports of at leas $430 billion and imports of $410 billion,
making China the world’s No. 4 trading nation, passing France
but still behind US, Japan & Germany.
. China is expected by 7 of 11 currency
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg to revalue the yuan in 2004,
letting it appreciate from a fixed peg of 8.28 yuan per US
dollar.
. The Bush Adm. confirmed China said Hong Kong
is willing to hold a second round of 6-nation talks to include
Russia, Japan and South Korea.
.
Hong Kong’s CEO indefinitely postponed plans to set a
timetable for democratic reforms, breaking a promise after the
street demonstrations last summer.
. TSMC (Taiwan) said it would beat Q4 sales forecasts. TSMC
and United Microelectronics said Nov. sales were flat or fell from
Oct. levels, triggering a sell-off of Intel, AMD and National
Semiconductor shares.
. Japan pledged to forgive the vast majority of its Iraqi
debt if other developed countries do the same. The move provided a
critical boost to US campaign to win debt relief for Iraq.
. Japanese auto output overseas—Toyota
gained 12% in Nov. vs. a year ago; Nissan Motor’s 7%; Mazda
Motor’s 29%. Global production fell at other carmakers—Honda
dropped 4% and Mitsubishi fell 25%.
. Matsushita will develop a digital
broadcasting system with China Central Television and
equipment maker Dayang Technology Development in
anticipation of 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
.
Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sharp & Sanyo will create a common
standard for appliances to network with each other & the
Internet. The first iReady products will be available in
Japan this year.
. Japan’s
Finance Ministry
said it could now raise funds by selling up to $93 billion of its
foreign bond holdings to the Bank of Japan. It spent $166
billion in ’03 through Nov. to keep the yen from rising
too much vs. the US dollar.
. After
a Japanese won the hotdog-eating contest in Coney Island,
Nathan’s opened its first franchised restaurant in Harajaku,
Tokyo and plans to develop other restaurants, kiosks and hot
dog carts there.
.
TS41 handset (Samyo), going on sale for $93 in Japan, works
as a regular cell phone when opened. When closed & placed
against head, sound vibrations travel via facial bones to the ears
allowing users to hear clearly in crowded areas. NTT DoCoMo
is mulling a similar handset.
. South
Korea’s industrial
output in Nov. fell 0.3% from Oct. after rising the prior 3
months. Output rose 4.7% vs. a year ago, below October’s 7.4%
annual gain.
. South
Korea is not doing enough to stop the piracy of US movies &
music, as the Bush administration placed the Asian economic
powerhouse on a special watch list that could lead to trade
sanctions.
. North Korean state media said it won’t be swayed by events in
some Middle Eastern countries, an apparent reference to recent WMD
concessions by Libya & Iran.
. 3
million children desperately need proper nourishment & clean
water, and an entire population needs basic medicine & better
hospital care.
.
A large scale survey last year by UNICEF and the World Food
Program (WFP) found 4 out of 10 N. Korean children to be
stunted by malnutrition. A report by WFP last month put the
country’s shortfall at almost 1 million tons.
.
While we cannot guarantee that every sack of grain goes where it
should, there are good reasons to believe that the great bulk of
it does.
.
More than half of the 8 million tons of food aid to N. Korea
since 1995 has been provided on a government-to-government basis
by countries such as S. Korea & China, and is subject
to few, if any, monitoring requirements.
. At least 600 members of the terror group Jemaiah
Islamiyah (J.I.) are still in the Philippines, scattered in
at least 3 camps, a special report by Time magazine said.
Recent interrogation and intelligence documents reveal the scale
of J.I. training in Mindanao, which seems to have replaced
Afghanistan as the preferred location for training on terror
tactics.
.
Filipinos working overseas remitted about $6.3 billion between Jan
& Oct in 2003, up 5.7% from the same period last year, said Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
. The
impoverished nations of South Asia agreed on the framework
for a free trade zone that would encompass 1/5 of the world’s
population, a step that could deepen the improving relations
between India & Pakistan.
.
The broad framework of the accord, which would start tearing down
tariffs by 01/01/06 was reached in Islamabad by foreign ministers
preparing for the first summit in 2 years of the leaders of India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, The Maldives and Bhutan,
home to hundreds of
millions of the world’s poorest people.
. Police took 2 scientists at Pakistan’s top
nuclear facility into custody. A local paper reported the two were
suspected of links with Iran’s nuclear program.
. One
of 3 suicide bombers who barely missed the presidential convoy was
not Pakistan’s, raising fears of links to international
terrorism.
