Taipei - Taiwan Friday opened its 2008 Taipei International Travel Fair with the aim of attracting more foreign and Chinese tourists.

Sixty-two countries and regions have set up 1,206 booths at the four-day fair with Chinese exhibitors occupying 256 booths, nearly four times more than the second-largest exhibitor, Japan, with 69.

China sent a 290-strong delegation to the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping to boost its own tourism.

Taipei  - Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced Friday it was to hold a three-day sit-in protest against the planned visit of top Chinese negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin.

The announcement came as a group of Chinese officials arrived in Taiwan Friday to prepare for Chen's November 3-7 visit, who was to hold talks with his Taiwanese counterpart Chiang Pin-kung on cross-strait transport, postal and food safety cooperation.

"Beginning from November 3, all people are invited to wear the yellow ribbons and join us in a sit-in protest outside the parliament building for three days to jointly safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty," the DPP said in a statement posted on its website.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks rose nearly 4 per cent Friday on an overnight rally on Wall Street and in expectation of expanded Taiwan-China exchanges.

The Taiex index soared 187.02 points, or 3.99 per cent, to close at 4,870.6.

Analysts attributed the surge not only to Thursday's rally on Wall Street, where the three major indices rose more than 2 per cent, but also to China's promise to ease restrictions on mainlanders visiting Taiwan.

Taipei - Taiwan opened the 2008 Taipei International Travel Fair Friday with the aim of attracting more foreign and Chinese tourists.

Sixty-two countries and regions have set up 1,206 booths at the four-day fair with Chinese exhibitors occupying 256 booths, nearly four times more than the second-largest exhibitor, Japan, with 69 booths.

China has sent a 290-strong delegation to the four-day travel fair at the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping to boost tourism from Taiwan to China.

Taipei - Taiwan's EVA Air will resume the Taipei-Paris service in 2009 after suspending the service in 2007 due to rising fuel prices, EVA Air said Friday.

Starting January 1, EVA will use a Boeing 777-300ER to provide thrice-weekly Taipei-Paris flight, with the flight taking off from Taipei Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and returning to Taipei Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

EVA said that the Boeing 777-300ER uses 20 per cent less fuel than the Boeing 747-400 which was previously used to fly the Taipei-Paris route, thus cutting costs of operation.