In hopes of helping Taiwanese businessmen come home for the Lunar New Year holiday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday it would urge the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to arrange direct charter flights between Taiwan and China.
Saying it would work in an intermediary role, the KMT held a press conference yesterday afternoon to highlight the three main points of its appeal to the MAC.
After talking with the family members of Taiwanese businessmen in China and holding a discussion with six major domestic airline carriers last Thursday, the KMT urged the government to be more flexible and allow its three proposals.
The KMT in 2003 helped facilitate semi-direct charter flights during the holidays for Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai, KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said. However, in response to the concerns raised by domestic air carriers and the Taiwanese business community in China, the KMT is hoping to arrange flights to and from Beijing and Guangzhou to Taiwan.
Additionally, the KMT also reported that the airlines it had talked to expressed hopes that they would be allowed to arrange charter flights. Previously, the airlines were only allowed to send empty planes to China to pick up passengers for the trip home. In order to reduce costs, the airlines are hoping to be allowed to book passengers for both the planes making the journeys to and from China, said KMT lawmaker and central policy committee executive director Tseng Yung-chuan (
"In actuality, we already have an existent situation where airline carriers can have two-sided flights which allows Chinese reporters come to Taiwan. Chinese air carriers asked domestic carriers to demand the right to have two-sided flights," said KMT legislative caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (
Furthermore, political considerations prompted flights in 2003 to make stopovers in Macau and Hong Kong. This year, the KMT hopes to arrange genuinely direct charter flights between China and Taiwan.
The KMT has adopted the role of mediator for Taiwanese businessmen abroad and domestic airlines in their negotiation, party officials said. In China, groups representing Taiwanese businessmen are talking with Chinese air carriers and the government.
The ultimate fate of the process lies in the hands of the MAC and in the Chinese government. However, if the Taiwanese government can be more flexible, the KMT believes that direct flights could become a reality, party officials said.
Today's visit will be the second the KMT will make to the MAC. The party's legislative caucus made a similar trip last Thursday to confirm the council's support for the KMT's initiatives. Party officials will also talk with domestic airline representatives later this afternoon.
The six airlines the KMT is building ties with are China Air, Eva Air, TransAsia Airways, Uni Air, Far Eastern Air Transport and Mandarin Airlines.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS