ASIA IN BRIEF President Xi Jinping of China and President Joe Biden of the USA have pledged to continue working together to ensure AI does not harm humanity.
The two met on Saturday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.
In the Chinese and American accounts of their meeting, both leaders affirmed the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons.
The two leaders also made remarks about continuing work to ensure AI is used productively.
The Chinese readout also included the following statement.
– Simon Sharwood
Samsung close to settling labor dispute
Samsung Electronics appears to be close to settling a ten-month dispute with local unions.
The agreement includes several key points: paid time off for union members to attend meetings, two million loyalty points for all employees that can be used to purchase company products, a 5.1 percent wage increase, and expanded long-term service leave.
The agreement also promises unquantifiable items, like mutual respect and improved labor-management relations, and joint corporate social responsibility activities.
But the proposed deal covers on 2023 and 2024 – conditions for next year haven’t been agreed.
LG reveals wearable and stretchy display
LG last week introduced a display panel that can stretch from 12 inches to 18 inches over 10,000 times.
The 100 ppi full color RGB display is an upgrade from a 2022 prototype that only stretched two inches.
The device is made of a silicon substrate that’s similar to substances used in contact lenses.
The screen was debuted at a demonstration at LG Science Park before being featured [VIDEO] at Seoul Fashion Week where LG hit the runway to show off clothes that change color and display moving images.
Singtel’s profits plunge while battling disruptions, scams
Asian telecoms giant Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) last week reported a 42 percent drop in first-half net profit, which landed at S$1.23 billion ($920 million).
The drop was attributed [PDF] to the “exceptional gain” of S$1.2 billion in the prior year after a merger.
The telco also drew attention in its home last week when government ministers addressed an October 8 outage that saw, among other services, emergency hotlines disrupted.
The root cause of the outage was attributed to “a technical issue which affected the proper functioning of a network component in one of the two systems supporting Singtel’s fixed line voice service.”
Two systems, housed in different telephone exchanges, are configured to automatically handle the full load should one experience a malfunction. However, that did not happen and the services experienced a disruption.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling suggested in parliament [VIDEO] that the government is now considering diversifying emergency hotline providers.
Singtel also made headlines after reports of a woman scanning QR code to receive a free ice cream and finding she was billed $7.99 on her phone bill for allegedly subscribing to a mobile service – even after immediately cancelling the subscription.
The Register asked Singtel to confirm the incident and better understand the carrier’s approach to preventing QR code scams, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
Despite the eventful week, the CEO reportedly found time to express optimism over an incoming Donald Trump presidency. Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon feels “new opportunities” could arise as businesses may be inspired to relocate operations or investments to Southeast Asia.
Vietnam threatens Chinese e-commerce giants with ban
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade set a deadline of the end of November for Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu to register with the government, or face having their apps and domains blocked.
Until the companies have complied with regulations, both platforms are required to cease advertising and marketing activities.
The move comes amid concerns over the platforms’ deep discounting practices, which have raised issues for local businesses, as well as fears about the sale of counterfeit products.
The government is also considering ending a tax exemption on imported goods under $40. Vietnam’s e-commerce market, now valued at $22 billion, is growing rapidly, but the government is focusing on regulating foreign platforms to ensure fair competition and consumer protection.
Japan to postpone cybersecurity bill
The Japanese government will likely delay the submission of a bill for an “active cyberdefense” system until next year.
Local media reported that there is just not enough time to thoroughly consider the bill in the upcoming session of parliament as other issues have priority.
“Cyber attacks are an imminent threat. We will accelerate our efforts to formulate a bill to further enhance our response capabilities on the cyber security front so that we can submit it to the Diet as soon as possible,” stated this year’s new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, in a press conference last Monday.
APAC Dealbook
Recent alliances and deals spotted by The Register across the region last week include:
- The parent company of telecom company Reliance Jio, Reliance Industries, and Disney completed the transaction that will see the pair create a digital streaming joint venture for the Indian market.
- Malaysia’s TM Global, the wholesale business arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), is expanding its data centers in Cyberjaya and Johor. The expansion includes a second phase for the Klang Valley Data Centre (KVDC) and Iskandar Puteri Data Centre (IPDC), offering a combined capacity of 20MW.
- GoTo Group, Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud announced agreements to enhance cloud infrastructure and digital talent in Indonesia. Tencent Cloud will invest USD 500 million to build a third data center by 2030 in the country, Alibaba Cloud, which already operates three data centers, plans to double its training efforts to 800,000 individuals by 2033 and establish a university skills center. Both will be built around GoTo cloud service contracts.
®
