BloombergThe earliest-available indicators of China’s economic performance pointed to a continued slowdown this month. Profits at Chinese industrial firms fell the most on record last month, dropping 9.9 percent from a year earlier, data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday. The decline in prices at the factory gate is one of the factors undercutting those profits and is expected to continue this month, according to a Bloomberg tracker of producer prices. If those deflationary effects continue, it would further hurt corporate profits at home, and eventually drag down prices and profits overseas. Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co (比亞迪), China’s biggest maker of new-energy vehicles, last month reported an 89 percent slump in third-quarter earnings and said that profit could fall as much as 43 percent this year.

Taipei and Canberra do not have a mutual judicial assistance agreement, but the office can request the information on a case-by-case basis. The office yesterday questioned China Innovation Investment Ltd (中國創新投資) executive director Xiang Xin (向心) and his wife, acting director Kung Ching (龔青), for more than two hours, reasserting that it has jurisdiction over the case. After questioning on Tuesday, the couple was barred from leaving the nation over an alleged breach of the National Security Act (國家安全法). The case of Chinese People’s Liberation Army intelligence officer Zhen Xiaojiang (鎮小江), who was convicted in 2015 of contravening the act, is an example of its jurisdiction, the office said. The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that the couple could have used the three properties in Taipei as bases for infiltrating Taiwan.

Each of us probably overlooks tens of thousands of important news stories every year, but the biggest one that people missed this year happened on Oct.10 in a conference hall in Lyon, France, where a gathering of government officials, business leaders and philanthropists pledged US$14 billion to an organization called the Global Fund. Not many people know what the Global Fund is until they hear its full name: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Now, the fund has US$14 billion in new funding to continue this work. The replenishment is vitally important news, first and foremost because of the sheer number of lives it will help to save. The US$14 billion, the fund says, is expected be enough to cut the three diseases’ death rates by almost 50 percent again by 2023.

By James Baron / Contributing reporterLike many Chinese immigrants in 1950s America, Stephen Cheng (程俊濤) had difficulty breaking into the entertainment industry over concerns that he was a spy. But fortunately Stephen Cheng was working with Voice of America, which wrote a letter attesting to his character and saying he wasn’t a communist. There was a big exodus of educated Chinese,” Pascal Cheng says. “He didn’t do the typical Chinese immigrant thing, like open a restaurant or a laundromat,” says Pascal Cheng. “You need to have more than one talent to make it in the theater,” Stephen Cheng told the Jamaica Gleaner during a visit to Kingston that yielded the recording of Always Together.

Speaking to reporters outside of the Criminal Investigation Bureau building in Taipei yesterday, Lin and DPP spokeswoman Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) showed photographs posted to social media platforms that are allegedly of Lin dining with self-confessed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強). The photos were from a January 2017 meeting with Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law (羅冠聰) during their visit to Taiwan, she said. Lee Yen-jong had been in touch with Lee Chi Wing in recent days, who told her that he was “astonished” at being mislabeled in a photograph as William Wang Liqiang, she said. Such misinformation would have a significant effect on the elections if it were allowed to continue spreading, she said. “In one post there was a link to an article alleging that the DPP provided financial support to Wang Liqiang.

Reuters, PARISUS private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC has agreed to invest US$500 million in the owners of English soccer champions Manchester City, valuing the Premier League club’s owner at US$4.8 billion. Silver Lake would buy just more than 10 percent of Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group (CFG), which owns Manchester City, the companies said yesterday, confirming a report in the Financial Times newspaper. Manchester City’s big domestic rivals Manchester United are owned by the American Glazer family, while Chelsea are owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Manchester City this month reported record high 2018-2019 revenue of ￡535.2 million (US$689.2 million) in a fifth consecutive year of profitability. However, unlike Manchester United and Liverpool, Manchester City is yet to win Europe’s most prestigious title, the UEFA Champions League.

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporterThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that an anti-infiltration bill proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would undermine the nation’s freedom and democracy. If passed, the anti-infiltration bill would “bring back Dong Chang (東廠),” a Ming Dynasty secret police agency, and undermine democracy and freedom, Wu said. The KMT caucus would strongly support the bill if it could improve national security and social stability, but so far those issues had not been handled properly, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said. Earlier yesterday, the KMT held a news conference at its headquarters when it accused the DPP of trying to railroad the bill. While the DPP said that an anti-infiltration act is needed to complement the newly amended national security laws, it is unclear why that would be necessary, she said.

It was also the site in 2015 for a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Lee had been due in Singapore this week to stump for support for her husband ahead of the Jan. 11 elections. Media in Singapore estimate that there are about 50,000 Taiwanese living in the city-state. “The government does not permit the conduct of foreign political activities, including campaigning and fundraising, in Singapore,” the ministry said in a statement. Lee has also been to Vietnam and Japan to drum up support, and is now in Malaysia.

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterPeople First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) on Monday said that he would move the capital to central Taiwan if elected, so that politicians could experience what it is like to live with polluted air, but he did not specify where the capital would be located. Specifically, I would make central Taiwan the nation’s political center,” Soong said. The idea of moving the capital to central Taiwan did not come out of nowhere, he said, adding that he has proposed similar ideas in previous elections. Only by moving the capital would politicians get a sense of how air pollution threatens the life of ordinary people in central Taiwan, Soong said. Nevertheless, he is confident that he would win over voters this time, Soong said.

AFP, HONG KONGDeeply unpopular Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday acknowledged that public dissatisfaction with her government fueled a landslide win by pro-democracy candidates in local elections, but offered no new concessions to resolve months of violent protests. Millions of Hong Kongers earlier this year took to the streets after Lam’s government introduced a bill to allow extraditions to China’s opaque judicial system. Lam’s latest comments indicated “no reflection, no response and no resolution” for Hong Kong’s ongoing crisis, Democratic Party Legislator Lam Cheuk-ting (林卓廷) said. “External forces that have helped stoke the months-long anti-government campaign in [Hong Kong] also contributed greatly to damaging the election chances of pro-establishment candidates,” it said. The result revived speculation that Carrie Lam might be dumped by Beijing, but a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman on Monday reiterated the government’s backing.

By Huang Chieh, Chien Li-chung and Dennis Xie / Staff reporters, with staff writerTwo executives of a Chinese company based in Hong Kong who have allegedly tried to influence Taiwanese elections were yesterday barred from leaving the nation following their detention at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday. The office yesterday confirmed that the Xiang and Kung had been released, but have been barred from leaving the nation pending further investigation. Wang had said that Xiang is really an intelligence officer with direct communication channels to the office of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Xiang has helped Beijing establish top intelligence assets and conduct espionage operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong, he said. Wang said that he in 2014 started working at China Innovation Investment as Kung’s painting instructor and later became a “middleman” for intelligence operations.

By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA new agricultural division is to be established at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington to “meet practical needs,” but it has nothing to do with importing US pork and beef, government officials said yesterday. It would be the first agricultural division “formally” established at Taiwan’s representative offices, although the council has sent agriculture-related officials to Eswatini, Honduras, Indonesia, Japan, Mauritius and Thailand, Department of International Affairs Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-hung (林志鴻) told the Taipei Times. Two council officials have been working at the TECRO for a long time, and would be given new titles after the division is established, he said. Promoting Taiwan-US cooperation in quarantine techniques and agricultural technology are among their missions, he said, adding that boosting bilateral trade in agriculture is just part of their job. Considering bilateral trade has become increasingly intensive, the TECRO decides to establish a new division to “meet practical needs,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.

The company allegedly mixed Robusta and Arabica coffee beans and sold them as 100 percent Arabica to save costs, the office said. It summoned the general manager, surnamed Liu (劉), a factory manager surnamed Lee (李), an employee surnamed Ho (何) and three witnesses for questioning, the office said. The investigation found that 13 of the company’s coffee bean products labeled as 100 percent Arabica contained Robusta beans, it said. After questioning, Lee and Ho were released on bail of NT$200,000 and NT$50,000 respectively, it said. Earlier yesterday, Liu returned NT$10 million of suspected illegal proceeds and expressed his willingness to cooperate with investigators, it said.

AP, PERTH, AustraliaThe chief executive of Australia’s second-biggest bank yesterday said that he plans to resign following accusations that Westpac Banking Corp committed 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws. Westpac chief executive officer Brian Hartzer was given 12 months’ notice and is still to receive his A$2.7 million salary (US$1.83 million). Hartzer is to be replaced by Westpac chief financial officer Peter King as of Dec. 2. King announced his retirement in September, but is to remain until a permanent replacement is appointed. The bank is suspected of failing to report 19.5 million international fund transfers worth more than US$7 billion from November 2013 to September last year.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday last week sent the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to the White House after the US Senate had unanimously passed it the day before. Anti-government demonstrators have protested in the streets of Hong Kong for six months amid increasing violence and fears that China will ratchet up its response to stop the civil disobedience. The protesters are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in the freedoms promised to Hong Kong when Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997. A US embassy spokesman said that Branstad told Zheng that the US was watching events in Hong Kong “with grave concern.”“He conveyed that we condemn all forms of violence and intimidation. The Sino-British Joint Declaration is the 1984 agreement of the terms under which Britain would return Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997, and included the promise of a “high degree of autonomy” for Hong Kong for 50 years from that date.