Taipei - Taiwan and China were expected to hold their third round of talks before May in the Chinese city of Nanjing on further economic cooperation, a senior official said Friday. "If the preliminary talks go smoothly, the third-round talks will be held even earlier than the beginning of May as some local news media have reported," said Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, which represents Taiwan with China in the absence of formal relations.

Taipei- Micron Technology Inc on Thursday dropped its plan to join a new Taiwan chipmaker formed to challenge South Korea's domination of the memory-chip industry.

The US chipmaker made the announcement at a news conference in Taipei held jointly with its Taiwan partners Nanya Technology Co and Inotera Memories.

Taipei- A jilted Taiwa

Taipei - Taiwan on Thursday launched a four-year promotion project aimed at luring foreign tourists.

Under the Tourism Pilot Project approved by cabinet Wednesday, Taiwan will mobilize all resources to turn the island into a transfer point for South-East Asian tourists and a main international tourist destination.

The project requires 30 billion Taiwan dollars (1 billion US dollars) is expected to create 400,000, the Tourism Bureau Director Lai Se-chen said.

Taipei  - Taiwan's stocks surged 4.12 per cent Thursday to a six-month closing high with investors buying strongly in the traditional industry, tourism and technology sectors, dealers said.

The main TAIEX index opened higher and extended its gains to close at 5,667.8, up 224.24 points, or 4.12 per cent.

Dealers said reports of continued rush orders from China received by local technology firms and the government's multi-billion dollar plans to boost tourism and local infrastructure projects bolstered investor sentiment.