Asia Pacific

When top US and Chinese officials meet on Monday for the first high-level talks of the Obama administration, the American complaints about China’s currency that long bedevilled relations will barely be on the table, the Financial Times reported. For years, Washington alleged that Beijing unfairly manipulated its currency, the renminbi, to support exports, and demanded that China allow it to appreciate to force structural changes in its economy.

Asian countries are beginning to build extensive social-welfare programs like those that long have existed in the West, a move they hope will encourage their people to save less, spend more and help put the region -- and the world -- on a stronger economic footing in the years ahead, The Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts have long worried that Asians lack sufficient health, unemployment and other benefits to tide them over when downturns or emergencies occur, or to prepare for old age. Only about 30% of Asia's elderly receive a pension, according to the United Nations.

China's Beijing Auto said intellectual property issues were behind its failure to reach an deal with General Motors over its Opel unit. General Motors' European business said on Thursday it had agreed to continue detailed talks with both Magna and RHJ International on its German unit Opel, but did not mention Beijing Auto, which had also submitted an offer. Beijing Auto did not mention in the statement what are the next possible steps after the end of its Opel bid.

ING Groep NV is seeking buyers for its private-banking business in Europe and Asia, according to people familiar with the situation, in the latest step by the financial-services firm to slim down after it turned to the Dutch government for aid last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The sale process is at an early stage and any deal is likely several months away, the people said.

Porsche on Thursday fired Wendelin Wiedeking, the high-profile chief executive who rejuvenated the nearly bankrupt sports car maker in the early 1990s but stumbled as a massive debt load torpedoed plans to take over the much larger Volkswagen concern, which will now absorb Porsche itself, The New York Times reported.

National Australia Bank Ltd. plans to raise up to 2.75 billion Australian dollars (US$2.24 billion) in fresh capital to help shore up its balance sheet as loans continue to sour, The Wall Street Journal reported. Melbourne-based NAB said that total charges for bad and doubtful debts were A$1.064 billion for the three months ended June 30, as asset quality continued to deteriorate. Bad and doubtful debts for the six months to March 31 came to $A1.8 billion. NAB joins Australia's other major banks in bolstering its capital position as a buffer against deteriorating economic conditions.

General Motors Corp. on Monday said it received final offers for its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe from three bidders, without naming them, The Wall Street Journal reported. A person familiar with matter said Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., owned by the Chinese government, has submitted a final bid. Another person close to the discussions on Friday said Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. and Belgian investment group RHJ International SA are the front-runners to clinch the deal.

The National Distribution Union is calling for an overhaul of New Zealand's receivership law after some redundant Lane Walker Rudkin staff are unlikely to see their full entitlements, The Press reported. More than two months after being made redundant, most of the 186 LWR workers have received 55 cents in the dollar after money was put into bank accounts in the past few days. However, the 55 cents was based on the total employee preferential entitlements, which is limited to $16,420 under law.

Australia's trade minister said on Monday China's detention of Rio Tinto employees would not hurt economic relations if handled properly, but said the case was a signal to everyone looking to invest in China, Reuters reported.

Bankruptcy petitions in Hong Kong accelerated in June, surging 89 percent from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, contrasting with other data suggesting the economy may be bottoming out, Reuters reported. Petitions also rose on a monthly basis after declining for the previous two months. Bankruptcy petitions totalled 1,619 last month, up from 857 a year ago and rising 14 percent from 1,417 in May, although monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted. The annual pace of increase was much faster than in May when petitions rose 54 percent from a year earlier.