Beijing  - Negotiators from mainland China and Taiwan on Friday signed an agreement to allow regular weekend charter flights beginning July 4 after the first talks between the two sides in nearly 1

Taipei  - Taiwan's parliament Thursday approved an amendment to allow conversion between the local and Chinese currencies to facilitate upcoming visits by Chinese tourists.

Taipei  - Taiwan's stocks ended 3.39 per cent lower Thursday on a sharp overnight fall on Wall Street, dealers said.

The Taiex weighted price index closed down 283.28 points at 8,062.31.

Taipei  - Angry Taiwanese demonstrated outside Japan's de facto embassy in Taipei Thursday, as elected officials demanded that warships equipped with missiles be sent to uphold Taiwan's territorial

Taipei - Taiwan's top negotiator in talks with China Wednesday headed to Beijing for historic talks that will pave the way for cross-strait rapprochement after six decades of impasse.

"We hope through the talks this time, our two sides would be able to achieve a win-win situation so that people across the Taiwan Strait can live better," said Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), before departing.

He said his four-day trip to Beijing is a "journey to build mutual trust" with China, a long-time rival of the island since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

The two sides had their first historic talks in 1993 in Singapore, but China suspended further dialogue in 1999 to retaliate against Taiwan leaders' advocating independence.

Singapore