Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Leading a 10-member Chinese delegation, China’s top tourism official arrived in the Taiwan’s outlying island of Penghu Friday for a half-day visit. Shao Qiwei, director of China’s National Tourism Administration, and his group first boarded a motor boat to cruise waters north of Penghu, which lies off Taiwan’s southwestern coast. The [...]

Beijing, Feb. 27 (CNA) A batch of fresh cabbage from Taiwan has hit supermarket shelves in the Chinese capital Beijing recently, marking the first of its kind to appear in northern China since direct cross-Taiwan Strait shipping links were opened last December. Nearly 8,000 kgs of the cabbage, which arrived in Beijing after 10 days [...]

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd, Taiwan’s fourth-largest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, said Friday it was negotiating with creditors to postpone the repayment of NT$40 billion (US$1.1 billion) in loans but insisted it was not seeking financial relief from the government. Responding to media reports that the cash-strapped company was [...]

It was a small victory hardly mentioned by Taiwan’s mainstream media, but in the opinion of residents of Taiwan’s outlying archipelago Penghu, a giant step toward saving an important piece of history. On December 23 of last year, the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) agreed to list a cluster of old coral-built houses in Chungshe [...]

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) American pop singer and songwriter Jason Mraz will perform in Taipei Saturday in front of a packed house as he promotes his latest album, “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, ” concert organizers said Friday. “All tickets were sold out weeks before Mraz even departed for Asia, ” the organizers [...]

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Officials of Taiwan’s National Palace Museum (NPM) and China’s Shanghai Museum provided details in Taipei Friday on the nine-point consensus reached during the NPM director’s recent visit to China and said that closer cooperation and exchanges would be of mutual benefit. NPM Deputy Director Fung Ming-chu reiterated that the two museums [...]

The funeral of late Taichung City Mayor Chang Chi-chung took place in his native city on Thursday. Born 94 years ago, Chang studied medicine during the Japanese occupation and founded the Chi Jen Hospital, which soon gained fame for its care for poor residents, reports said. Chang launched a political career which propelled him into [...]

China pledged on Thursday to try to increase the number of Chinese tourists visiting neighboring Taiwan, addressing a sore spot in recently improved ties between the long-time political rivals. Chinese Tourism Administration director Shao Qiwei said he would allow more Chinese agents to sell Taiwan tours and let tourists from more provinces and cities visit. [...]

Ex-President Chen Shui-bian returned to prison on Thursday after the Taipei District Court failed to approve a motion from his attorneys calling for his release due to exhaustion. Thursday’s pre-trial session about his corruption and money laundering cases turned into a discussion on whether Chen should be kept in custody or released after 59 days [...]

Lawmakers said on Thursday that an eventual Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with China should face discussion at the Legislative Yuan before its signing. President Ma Ying-jeou said Taiwan should sign a CECA with China to prevent the country being marginalized as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations lowers tariffs in its trade with China, [...]