Taiwan reaches target of receiving 3,000 Chinese tourists a day

August 31st, 2009 TAIPEI/BEIJING - Taiwan and China launched regular direct flights Monday, ending Taipei's six-decade ban on air links with the mainland imposed at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Taiwan and Chinese airlines will operate a total of 270 round-trip flights per week, up from the current 108 charter flights.

August 16th, 2009 QINGDAO - Twenty-two Chinese crew of a Panama-registered freighter have been missing after the vessel was hit by Typhoon Morakot east of Taiwan, officials said Sunday. The search for the missing seamen is under way, the officials in Qingdao City said.

July 27th, 2009 Taiwan and China leaders exchange messagesTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese and Chinese leaders have directly exchanged messages for the first time in 60 years amid warming ties. A Nationalist party press statement says Monday's correspondence originated with a congratulatory message from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeou after he won an election for the ruling party's chairmanship.

July 16th, 2009 TAIPEI, Taiwan — The 100-strong Chinese delegation boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan on Thursday, underscoring the limits of the historic breakthrough in relations between Taipei and Beijing. The Chinese gesture is likely to ruffle feathers on this democratic island of 23 million people, which under President Ma Ying-jeou has moved aggressively to improve ties with the mainland, its once-bitter enemy.

May 31st, 2009 China sends large group to buy Taiwanese goodsTAIPEI, Taiwan — A group of Chinese computer and home appliance manufacturers arrived Sunday with plans to buy billions of dollars worth of goods and components from Taiwan, officials and news reports said. Officials from 46 Chinese companies, including big manufacturers such as Lenovo and Haier, have joined the buy-Taiwan group, group leader Li Shuilin said.

April 27th, 2009 Freighter rams wooden ship off Taiwan, 11 rescuedHONOLULU — Relatives of Hawaii-based crew members of a 54-foot wooden Chinese ship say a freighter rammed and sunk the ship off the coast of Taiwan and that 11 crew members were rescued. Relatives said crew members clung to floating wreckage for five hours Saturday in a storm 20 to 30 miles offshore from Taiwan before they were picked up.

April 26th, 2009 China, Taiwan sign agreements to boost cooperationBEIJING — China and Taiwan signed three agreements Sunday that will enhance economic ties between the rivals and increase the frequency of flights, amid efforts by Taiwan's president to improve relations with Beijing. One agreement, signed at a meeting in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, sets the stage for financial services firms to open branches in each other's territory, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

April 26th, 2009 China, Taiwan hold talks on economic cooperationBEIJING — Negotiators from China and Taiwan were expected to sign a financial cooperation pact Sunday amid efforts by Taiwan's president to improve relations with Beijing. The agreement would allow banks to open branches in each other's territory, according to Chiang Pin-kung, the Straits Exchange Foundation president and Taiwan's top envoy to the talks in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing.

April 25th, 2009 China, Taiwan open talks on economic cooperationBEIJING — Envoys from rivals China and Taiwan were in talks on a trade agreement and preparing to sign pacts to increase economic cooperation amid efforts by Taiwan's president to improve relations with Beijing. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is pushing for an agreement to ease trade barriers, which he says is needed to keep Taiwan competitive.

April 24th, 2009 Taiwan and China to increase economic cooperationTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan and China will discuss a partial free trade agreement and sign pacts this weekend to increase economic cooperation, a senior Taiwanese negotiator said Friday. The statement by Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung comes amid efforts by President Ma Ying-jeou to turn the corner on his predecessor's pro-independence policies and open a new era in relations with the mainland, from which Taiwan split during a civil war in 1949.

April 24th, 2009 2 China tourists killed by falling crane in TaiwanTAIPEI, Taiwan — The Taipei mayor says a falling crane from a high-rise building under construction has crushed a bus in Taiwan's capital. He says two Chinese tourists have been killed and three others seriously injured.

March 13th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan is opposed to China's plan to extend its national railway network to Taipei, calling it unnecessary, according to a newspaper report Friday. According to the Taipei Times, both the Presidential Office and the Mainland Affairs Council have called China's plan unnecessary from both economic and political perspectives.

February 5th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan plans to launch regular flights to China in the first half of 2009, an official said Friday. Lee Wen-lung, director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), told Broadcasting Corp of China that 'authorities' have instructed CAA to achieve normalization of air flights across the Taiwan Strait before summer.

January 25th, 2009 TAIPEI - Some 100,000 people flocked to the Taipei Zoo Monday to see the two giant pandas that China gave to Taiwan as a symbol of friendship. The pandas, named by China as Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - Tuanyuan means reunion in Chinese - were shown to Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and 500 children Saturday, but they made their official debut Monday, the first day of the Chinese New Year holidays.

January 15th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan and China are expected to launch regular passenger and cargo flights in July, ending Taipei's six-decade ban on cross-strait air links with the mainland, a newspaper said Friday. The Commercial Times, quoting an unnamed official, said Taipei and Beijing plan to hold talks in late May to discuss opening regular flights and sign a pact.