Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The Chinese-language daily China Times yesterday reported that Wang is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in China next month and make two public speeches in Peking University and Tsinghua University.
The report said that Wang would meet Hu in his capacity as the leader of the highest representative organ of the people in Taiwan.
Several international news services picked up the unsourced China Times story and ran reports saying that Wang was set to meet Hu.
But they did not include any comments from the legislative speaker supporting the claim.
Asked to comment on the report when he was approached by the press in Penghu County, Wang said: "The facts are at variance with the story."
"I do have a plan [to visit China] and I have been planning it for years, but there has been no appropriate time [to carry it out]," Wang said.
Meanwhile, asked whether he was planning to declare his presidential bid after the Lantern Festival -- on March 4 -- Wang said he was still canvassing public opinion.
"I will make the decision in consultation with the public nationwide to see how they feel [about my running for president]. They've responded very warmly," he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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