BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE NEWS

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BUSINESSS TIMES
Tai Sin turns in $1.4m profit 

[SINGAPORE] Tai Sin Electric Cables Manufacturer has posted its first set of
full-year results since its Sesdaq listing last year. It generated $1.36
million in net profits for the year ended June 30 on the back of $24.4
million in turnover. The group's earnings per share fell 48 per cent to 0.83
cents while its net tangible assets per share stood unchanged from last
year's figure at 14 cents. Tai Sin said it expects the results for its
current financial year to be comparable to that for FY 99. The group added
that it just opened a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam
and is targetting exports to Brunei, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar. 

19990915 
Asia unlikely to win hearts of new EU team 
Business Times
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Shada Islam 
KEEPING track of European Union policies is difficult at the best of times.
After a spring and summer riddled with unending institutional crises,
EU-watchers the world over can expect the task to become even more exacting.
Most importantly, there's the complication of dealing with a new EU
Executive Commission. 

A new 20-member team, replacing the Jacques Santer-led commission which
resigned en masse in March on allegations of fraud and mismanagement, will
be taking office later this month following an expected confirmation vote by
the European Parliament today. Former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi,
who will head the new Commission, has promised to revamp the discredited
agency, making it more relevant and responsive to the needs of ordinary
citizens. As he struggles to reform EU institutions, the future EU chief
will be pursuing a wide brief: over the next few years, the man credited
with bringing Italy into the single European currency is expected to
modernise the Commission's old-fashioned bureaucratic structures, hoping to
turn the executive into a lean and mean machine. 

More significantly for Europe's foreign partners, Mr Prodi's new executive
team will be overhauling the bloc's political priorities. And the change in
focus may not always be in Asia's favour. 

In parliamentary hearings held last week, future EU foreign affairs
commissioner Chris Patten made an impassioned pledge to turn the EU into a
"force for democracy and human rights the world over". Hongkong's last
colonial governor was specially fierce in denouncing what he described as
"serious violations of human rights" in China. The EU would "stand up for
human rights" while dealing with Beijing, Mr Patten promised. Business and
commercial interests would not be allowed to silence such concerns. 

Expect also no softening of EU policy towards Myanmar, long a source of
friction in Europe-Asean relations. After almost two years of refusing to
countenance Myanmar's presence at EU-Asean meetings, European officials
finally agreed earlier this year to allow a representative from Myanmar to
attend an EU-Asean encounter -- provided the man from Yangon remained a
passive spectator. 

Thanks to the compromise, the long moribund EU-Asean relationship is back on
track. 

It would be unfortunate if Mr Patten's tougher human rights stand brought
the long-suffering EU-Asean dialogue to a standstill once again. Strains
with Beijing and expected skirmishes with others in Asia mean that many in
the region will be keeping a close watch on Mr Patten. 

But it would be unwise to overlook an equally controversial member of the
new Commission: French banker Pascal Lamy who is expected to become the EU's
new trade commissioner. To many outsiders, the nomination of a Frenchman as
Europe's chief trade negotiator is provocative enough in itself. Of all 15
EU countries, France can be counted upon to press for more trade protection,
especially -- but not only -- in the farm sector. 

As any Asian trade expert worth his salt knows, French demands for
anti-dumping action against lower-cost Asian and other exports are part of
the murkier side of EU trade folklore. Mr Lamy's backers insist that unlike
many of his co-citizens, the new commissioner is a committed free-trader.
And Mr Prodi's decision to give him the world trade portfolio is a wily move
designed to ensure that Paris falls into line when the World Trade
Organisation launches a trade liberalisation round later this year. 

Perhaps. 

And certainly during a quizzing by Euro parliamentarians last week, Mr Lamy
made all the politically correct noises on the need for free markets and
trade expansion. Hidden in his pro-free trade rhetoric, however, was a
disquieting appeal for "controlled globalisation" and a promise that Europe
would press its WTO partners to accept its "universal values" on
development, human rights, social and environmental norms. 

Outside the Commission, Europe-watchers will also have to make more time for
the European Parliament, whose power and influence in the bloc is set to
increase over the coming years. Once described as little more than a
talk-shop, the Euro assembly's muscle-flexing led to the dismissal of the
Commission earlier this year. 

Now, Euro MPs, including members of the green or environmental parties, are
demanding -- and likely to secure -- a stronger say in the conduct of EU
affairs, including trade policy. 

The changes ahead are a guarantee that monitoring Europe will remain an
exciting enterprise. And one probably not meant for the faint-hearted. 

The writer is a Brussels-based journalist who contributes to BT