A Taiwanese entrepreneur plans to open a Las Vegas-style casino in the Russian Pacific coast city of Vladivostok by the end of the year, the Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
The report comes just as direct air links are being launched between Taipei and Vladivostok.
The casino complex, located on a 1.32 hectare plot in downtown Vladivostok, also includes a 600-room hotel, according to the report.
The project is a joint venture between Taiwanese businessman Hsu Wei-chun (須偉群) and US mogul Donald Trump, the report said. It is also the first ever casino to be licensed by the Russian government, the report quoted Hsu as saying.
News of Hsu's casino project followed the establishment of direct air links between the two countries earlier this month. A Vladivostok Airlines passenger jet landed at the CKS International Airport on April 30 in a historic direct flight between Taiwan and Russia. The company is now running charter flights between Taipei and Vladivostok.
Taiwan's TransAsia Airways (
China Northern Airlines is planning to launch flights to Vladivostok from the cities of Dalian, Shenyang and Harbin, the report said.
Flights between Taipei and Vladivostok take about four hours, compared to only around one hour from northeastern China, Japan and Korea. Hsu has been the driving force behind the direct air links between Taipei and Vladivostok.
He already has sizable business holdings in Russia, having bought in 1990 the country's largest state-owned department store, which now operates 28 branch stores.
Hsu also developed a close relationship with Yevgeny Nazdratenko, the former governor of Primorye Province in which Vladivostok is located, and became the first director of Primorye's trade office in Taipei.
RSS