While airline representatives confirmed that they had been officially authorized to handle cross-strait charter flights for the upcoming Lunar New Year, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday maintained silence on the matter, saying only that "contact had been made."
With the Lunar New Year around the corner, it remains an open question whether cross-strait charter flights will materialize to accommodate the estimated 500,000 Taiwanese businesspeople returning home for the holidays.
MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (
"The two sides have already begun to communicate on the matter," he said yesterday.
However, Chiu refused to confirm whether the government had formally authorized the Taipei Airlines Association to represent the government in possible negotiations with China over the charter flights. The council stated last month that it would authorize the association to engage in talks as soon as "China's stance becomes clear."
"Is it really important whether we've authorized the association? That's not the main point here," Chiu said.
While the MAC has sought to keep a low profile on the matter, the association yesterday told the media that it had been delegated by the government to engage in negotiations, but refrained from saying when such talks would take place or with whom they would meet.
"We are bound to confidentiality by our agreement with the government," association Secretary-General Solo Su (
Su denied the veracity of an article by the local Chinese-language newspaper the China Times that said Su and association Chairman Michael Lo (樂大信) had left for Beijing yesterday to negotiate the details of cross-strait charter flights.
"I'm still in Taipei, right?" Su said yesterday.
The China Daily had reported that the Beijing representative offices of several local carriers had been expecting to meet with Lo yesterday.
With the Lunar New Year less than five weeks off, Su said that time was of the essence.
"There will indeed be a lot of pressure on the airline carriers, and they're worried about whether there will be market demand for the charter flights as the holiday approaches," he said.
However, Su said that as long as both sides were willing to cooperate, the matter could be resolved quickly.
While cross-strait flights took place in February 2003, the prospects for this year looked bleak until Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) put the issue back on the table on Monday.
Whether cross-strait talks will be held and whether flights will be direct and reciprocal has yet to be determined, but observers have said the flights are an indicator of the direction cross-strait exchanges might take in the future, as well as being a possible forerunner to the "three links" with China.
Meanwhile, in their efforts to facilitate cross-strait charter flights for Taiwanese working in China, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that it is preparing to send a small delegation to Beijing on Sunday to talk to Chinese authorities.
The delegation hopes to facilitate reciprocal direct charter flights with no stopovers from Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzu.
Given its preliminary contacts with the MAC and the Chinese authorities, KMT Legislator and Central Policy Committee executive director Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said yesterday that the KMT has high hopes that at least two of its objectives will be achieved.
"We think it is very possible that we will be able to have flights with no stopovers and from multiple locations. It's probably too late, however, to arrange [the technical details for] two-sided flights, since that touches upon cross-strait issues" Tseng told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The delegation plans to leave for Beijing on Jan. 9 and is slated to return the following day.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their