China held out a clutch of potential economic agreements with Taiwan yesterday at the end of a meeting in Beijing ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
The announcement came during a visit to Beijing by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (
Beijing is trying to isolate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by forging ties with the pan-blue camp and offering trade concessions to appeal to the nation's farmers.
China's offers of aviation, agricultural and finance deals came in a statement after a two-day forum between Chinese Communist officials and KMT officials.
"We must strive to normalize, regularize and stabilize cross-strait economic relations," Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), the chief of the Chinese Communist Party's Taiwan Affairs Office, told the meeting yesterday.
Chen and other Chinese officials urged Taiwan to agree to negotiate on steadily expanding direct air flights between the two sides. Currently, such flights only happen over the Lunar New Year holiday, and Taiwanese visitors to China must usually change planes in Hong Kong or Macao.
China also offered to lower barriers for Taiwan-grown fruit, vegetables and other farm goods.
But the proposals are unlikely to have any direct effect on official government dealings between China and Taiwan, which are frozen by political hostility.
On Friday, Lien said Taiwan can't succeed economically without China's markets and factories.
The measures announced yesterday will add four types of Taiwan-grown fruit to a list of 18 varieties that can be imported into China, extend tax-free import status to 11 new types of vegetables and let Taiwanese fishing boats sell their catch in Chinese markets, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
In addition, Chinese produce-marketing cooperatives will organize buying trips to Taiwan during fruit harvest season, Xinhua said.
It said China will set up a marketing center in Xiamen, the Chinese port city closest to Taiwan, to "bring convenience and reduce costs for Taiwan's fruit imports."
Chen, the Chinese official, said Beijing would also:
-- allow Taiwanese to apply for licenses to practice medicine in China.
-- expand the number of city governments that are authorized to issue permits for Taiwanese to enter China.
-- allow Taiwanese to apply for jobs as Chinese customs inspectors.
-- recognize diplomas issued by Taiwanese universities.
Beijing announced an earlier round of concessions for Taiwanese farm imports during a visit last year by Lien.
Taiwanese business executives attending the Beijing meeting said it would increase pressure on Chen to seek agreement with Beijing on flights and other economic issues.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS