The government is considering launching cargo charter flights with China to ease cross-strait tension, a Chinese-language newspaper said yesterday.
"After launching passenger charter flights for the Chinese New Year, authorities plan to launch passenger charter flights for the next festival, the Dragon Boat Festival. After that, they may allow cargo charter flights shortly afterwards," the paper quoted Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) as saying.
"Cargo charter flights could cut the cost of Taiwan's exports to China. It is particularly important for Taiwan's export of electronics products to China, which totals US$20 billion each year," he said.
"However, it is up to the Mainland Affairs Council to decide when to launch cargo charter flights," Hu added.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on July 11 this year.
Taiwan and China launched passenger charter flights last Saturday for the Lunar New Year.
The charter flights, between Jan. 29 and Feb. 20, has paved the way for launching more charter flights and even regular flights between Taiwan and China.
Since Taiwan allowed indirect trade with China in 1987, its indirect trade with China via Hong Kong has tripled from US$5.7 billion in 1988 to US$23.7 billion between January and November last year.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said on Sunday that the charter flights are a good start for improving Taipei-Beijing ties.
"We will continue to promote cross-strait exchanges with goodwill and sincerity. I believe it won't be long before the door of cross-strait reconciliation, cooperation and peace is opened," Chen told reporters in the Solomon Islands.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has urged the government to further loosen the ban on direct air links with China.
"This is only a partial launch of direct flights. We should launch charter flights for other festivals or even for every weekend," Ma said on Sunday.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS