CHINA

Jardine Matheson Unit to Close Offices: Jardine Transport Services (China), a transportation arm of British conglomerate Jardine Matheson, will close more than half of its mainland offices, the South China Morning Post reports. The transportation company is caught in a licensing dispute with mainland officials who have said that the company is now allowed only one office in each city in which it operates, the paper said. The dispute comes just four months after Jardine Matheson Group directors went to Beijing on a goodwill visit to heal a rift between Beijing and the company. Jardine had come out in support of Gov. Chris Patten’s political reform plan in 1992, a scheme that China vehemently opposes. Soon afterward, commentaries in Chinese papers began criticizing the British conglomerate.