Taipei- Taiwan plans to launch regular flights with 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.

"Although the two sides have not opened talks, all the preparations have been made," the radio quoted Lee as saying.

Taipei  - Kaohsiung Harbour has lost its position among the world's top ten busiest container ports due to strong competition from Chinese ports, according to a newspaper report Friday.

Data from China's China Shipping Gazette weekly showed that in 2008, the world's top-ten busiest container ports were Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Pusan, Dubai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Zhoushan and Qingdao, the United Daily News reported.

Seven are Chinese ports and only three were outside China: Singapore, Pusan (South Korea) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Taipei- Taiwan's

Taipei- Taiwan on Wednesday rejected the Philippines' claim to the disputed Spratly Islands, and its plan to include the mineral- rich South China Sea archipelago within its own territorial waters.

"Historically, geographically and factually, the Spratly Islands and its surrounding waters have long been the traditional territory of the Republic of China, without doubt," said Taiwan's Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Taipei- Sheng Yen, one of Taiwan's four most respected Zen Buddhist masters, died of natural causes Tuesday at the age of 79.

"He died of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome at around 4 pm (0800 GMT)," said a spokesman of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Zen Buddhist centre established by the eminent monk.

Rated as one of Taiwan's 50 most influential people in 400 years, Sheng established the mountain retreat in Taipei County in 1989 to promote Zen Buddhism.

Taipei - Taiwan has signed an oil exploration agreement with Belize in a deal described Tuesday by Taipei as deepening relations with its Caribbean ally.

"CPC Corporation Taiwan signed the production sharing agreement with Belize on January 14, indicating further improvement of both diplomatic and substantive relations between our two sides," Diego Chou, deputy director for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, said in a news conference.

Belize is one of just 23 nations that recognize Taiwan diplomatically.