The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday denied it had sent secret a delegation to China to discuss expanding cross-strait charter flights prior to the government's recent announcement that it would further liberalize air links.
Council Deputy Chairman Liu Te-shun (
Former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
The report quoted Chen as saying in an interview with the local CTI news channel on Sunday night that "the April 8-10 discussion had achieved considerable breakthroughs" on the opening of cross-strait charter cargo flights and passenger flights on weekends and holidays.
Liu yesterday denied the report.
Talks in progress
"There have been ongoing communications [between both governments] and the talks have proceeded in accordance with our designated goals. There were absolutely no secret envoys involved in our communications," Liu said.
Liu however confirmed that proxies of the two governments have engaged in "intensive" communications recently regarding the expansion of cross-strait charter flights.
The council last week called for the Chinese authorities to speed up talks on expanding cross-strait passenger charter flights and hinted that the flights would soon be expanded to include the three major Chinese festivals, including the dragon boat festival and the mid-Autumn festival, in addition to the current Lunar New Year festival charter flights.
Liu yesterday said the government had commissioned the Taipei Airlines Association, which has helped negotiate direct charter flights over previous Lunar New Year holidays, to help arrange negotiations on cross-strait cargo and passenger charter flights.
No tourists yet
In response to China's announcement on Sunday of rules for travel by its citizens to Taiwan, Liu said the measures still fell far short of what was needed for Chinese tourists to arrive in Taiwan, as Beijing had yet to add Taiwan to the list of travel destinations for its citizens.
There were still a number of inconsistencies between China's regulations and Taiwan's, such as a demand that Taiwanese travel agencies wanting to bring in Chinese tourists be approved by the Chinese authorities in advance, Liu said.
"We don't want China to announce its measures at different stages. This looks very insincere to the Taiwanese people. If they want to do it, just do it once and for all," Liu said.
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS