Taipei  - A frail former Taiwan's president Chen Shui-bian appeared in a Taiwan court for pretrial hearings on corruption allegations.

Chen, who ended a three-day hunger strike to protest against what he claimed was political persecution and injustice, was brought to court in handcuffs from the Taipei Detention Centre, where he has been jailed since late December.

When asked how he felt, he told Taipei District Court Judge Tsai Shou-hsun that he felt weak and uncomfortable.

Taipei - Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian resumed eating Monday, three days after beginning a hunger strike to protest what he claimed was unfair prosecution on corruption charges, officials said.

Lee Ta-chu, deputy director of the Taipei Detention Centre, said Chen ate porridge and cabbage provided by the prison and food brought by his wife, Wu Shu-chen.

He resumed eating after Wu visited and asked him to preserve his energy for a pretrial hearing set on Tuesday, Lee said.

Taipei -  Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou vowed Monday to extend aid for Palau, saying changes in their governments would not affect the close relationship between the two island states.

"Although Palau and Taiwan both experienced a change of leadership last year, in a democracy, government policies enjoy a continuity that extends the trust placed in and promises made to its allies," said Ma in a meeting with his counterpart, Johnson Toribiong, who was visiting Taipei.

His comment came after some local news media reported that Palau might ask for new aid from Taiwan.

Taipei - Taiwan's embattled former president Chen Shui-bian began a hunger strike to protest what he claimed was unfair prosecution of alleged corruption, officials said Saturday.

"He has not taken any food since Friday, but he has drunk water," said Lee Ta-chu, deputy director of Taipei Detention Centre, where Chen was under custody for the second time since late December.

Chen was first detained in November on suspicion of embezzlement, taking bribes, money laundering and document forgery, but was released on bond after being indicted in mid-December.

Taipei  - Taiwan plans to pick either US chipmaker Micron Technology Inc or Japan's Elpida Memory Inc to help upgrade its semiconductor industry, the Central News Agency (CNA) said Friday.

CNA quoted Economics Minister Yin Chi-ming as saying that Taiwan would unveil plans for the integration of its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry at the end of February and wants to pick a foreign chipmaker to merge with Taiwan semiconducter producers.

While Taiwan favours Micron and Elpida, a Micron-Elpida-Taiwan merger was unlikely because it would be time-consuming and too costly to merge the technologies of three countries, Yin told CNA.

Taipei  - Taiwan plans to launch a campaign to attract Muslim tourists to visit the island, with the target of luring 2,000 Muslims annually in the initial years, a newspaper said Friday.

The Tourism Bureau will hold a seminar Friday to introduce the untapped market of Muslim tourists to Taiwan travel agents and to discuss strategies to attract Muslim tourists, the United Daily News said.