Taiwan's military and the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a joint exercise in overlapping waters with the Philippines in the South China Sea amid escalating tensions between the countries after the shooting and killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard last week.

Taiwan's military and the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a joint exercise in overlapping waters with the Philippines in the South China Sea amid escalating tensions between the countries after the shooting and killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard last week.

Tourists scheduled to visit the Philippines could suffer huge losses if they canceled their trips based on a high-level travel alert issued by the Taiwan government, local travel agents said Thursday, indicating that the sanctions against the Southeast Asian country might hurt Taiwan's travel sector.

MSCI Inc., a global index provider, has cut Taiwan's weighting in its Asia-Pacific index (excluding Japan) and in its emerging markets index after a semi-annual index review.

The United States expressed concern Wednesday over the increase in tension between Taipei and Manila over the fatal May 9 shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippines and urged the two sides to work toward an effective resolution of their differences.

The current Taiwan-Philippines row over the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Philippine government vessel has nothing to do with the so-called “one China” policy, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.

The U.S. dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar Thursday, gaining NT$0.022 to close at the day's high of NT$30.050 as the greenback recovered from its early losses with the help of the local central bank, dealers said.

The Public Health Bureau of New Taipei City yesterday seized up to 14,480 liters of soy sauce products allegedly containing an excessive amount of heterocyclic organic chemicals from an underground factory located in the Wugu District of the city, according to bureau officials.

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. lost its ranking among the top five PC makers in Western Europe in the first quarter because of weak buying, research company Gartner Inc. said.

President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that Taiwan's demands to the Philippines over a fatal shooting incident are justified but also said that his government will deal with Manila peacefully.