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.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do