Both Taiwan and China are sincere in working out the details for a special charter-flight service prior to the Lunar New Year celebration, but the government has not yet received a response from its negotiator, a government official said yesterday.
Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), dismissed a media report that Taiwan and China have reached agreement on the arrangement for Taiwanese working in China who wish to spend the lunar new year holidays early next month at home by taking charter flights.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will also organize a mission to Beijing to help with the issue due to the sensitive cross-strait situation.
The KMT delegation is slated to depart for Beijing as scheduled today to hold talks tomorrow with officials of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). According to Chiu, the MAC has not received any information from Lo Ta-hsing (樂大信), chairman of the Taipei Airlines Association, who was commissioned by the MAC to hold technical talks with representatives of the CAAC in Macau Friday.
Regarding the media report that Taiwan and China have reached agreement in Macau on a model for "non-stop, round-trip, multi-destination flights by carriers on both sides," said Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), spokesman for the KMT. The delegation will be headed by Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), director of the KMT's Central Policy Committee, and will include KMT lawmakers John Chang and Chu Fong-chih (朱鳳芝), and People First Party lawmaker Li Hong-jyun (李鴻鈞).
The special Lunar New Year charter flights were first launched in 2003, involving only Taiwanese carriers. But the service failed to proceed last year as a result of China's insistence on its carriers being allowed to offer flights.
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