Taipei - Taiwan stocks opened higher Wednesday after Tuesday's big Wall Street rally.

After the Taipei stock market opened at 9 am, the benchmark TAIEX quickly surged as much as 7 per cent higher. One hour into trading, TAIEX eased to 4,536.17, still up 136.2 points, or 3.1 per cent, from Tuesday's closing figure.

Analysts attributed the TAIEX surge to Tuesday's rally on Wall Street.

Taipei  - Taiwan stocks rebounded to post gains of nearly 1 per cent Tuesday, after a steep opening fall, as Asian stock markets rallied across the board.

The benchmark TAIEX index lost nearly 6 per cent in early morning trading, but recouped to post a 0.76 per cent increase by the close.

Analysts attributed the rebound to the rallies on major Asian markets, which followed heavy losses Monday.

"Yesterday Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said during his visit to Russia that China will help Hong Kong through the financial crisis, and South Korea raised its interest rates by 0.7 per cent," said Chiu Hsin-lin, vice chairman of the Industries Bank of Taiwan Securities.

Taipei - Taiwan and China agreed Monday to hold a second round of high-level talks in Taipei next week, despite threats by pro-independence activists to disrupt the meeting.

"The Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) chairman Chen Yunlin will lead a delegation to Taiwan from December 3 to 7, the first meeting on the island between the two parties," the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Taipei - Taiwan's state-funded Straits Exchange Foundation said Monday that China had apologized to Taiwan for the losses and troubles caused by the recent tainted milk scandal.

The foundation said it received a letter of apology to Taiwan's consumers and manufacturers Monday from the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

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Taipei - Taiwan's pro-independence groups rallied tens of thousands anti-China and anti-government supporters in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policies and the island's economic downturn.

"Opposing toxic China, defending Taiwan," the protesters shouted as they marched along the streets of the capital's bustling centre from five directions towards the Presidential Office, where they staged a demonstration against the Ma government.