Taipei City Government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (
Yang is expected to officiate at the opening of the Taiwan Pavilion at the expo, which will be showcasing tourist attractions in Taiwan.
Yang is the first city official to visit Beijing since Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
Yang said that the Taiwan Pavilion will be positioned independently at the expo -- not in the domestic or international area -- to avoid Taiwan from being "dwarfed."
The expo is expected to attract exhibitors from more than 80 countries and areas around the world to show off their tourism specialties.
Yang said that the Taiwan Pavilion will offer Taiwan's signature "pearl milk tea" and instant "fun photo" stickers.
Yang declined to comment on speculation that he would be meeting officials from Beijing's National Tourism Administration for talks on a wide range of topics, including the disputed Olympic torch relay route.
Officials from the Mainland Affairs Council recently said that Taiwan was willing to renegotiate the torch route with China so long as the nation's status is not downgraded.
Taiwan rejected Beijing's original route, saying it sought to downgrade Taiwan's sovereignty. The government wants the torch to come to Taipei via a third country and travel to another country before arriving in China.
Yang is also scheduled to travel to Shanghai to meet officials and leaders from the private sector for talks on city-to-city cultural exchanges.
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
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