Taiwan

Railway maintenance cars collide, 10 injured

Taiwan, TaipeiTaipei- Two maintenance cars collided during test runs on Taiwan's high-speed rail system on Saturday, leaving eight Taiwan engineers and two German engineers injured, one seriously.

The crash occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning at Yanchao, Kaohsiung County, south Taiwan, when the two maintenance cars were undergoing tests before their formal delivery to the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation.

The two German-made cars running on opposite lines collided, leaving a total of 10 engineers in both cars with multiple injuries.

Taiwan welcomes US removal of the island from forgery watch list

Taiwan welcomes US removal of the island from forgery watch listTaipei - Taiwan Saturday welcomed a US decision to remove the island from the so-called Special 301 watch list of countries failing to protect intellectual property rights.

"This shows our efforts to stamp out violation of intellectual property rights have borne fruit," said Wang Mei-hua, director of the Intellectual Property Office under the Economics Ministry.

She said the government will do all it can to uphold protection of IPRs in Taiwan.

Taiwan fails to achieve its 2008 foreign visitor target

Taiwan firm may sue Ukraine for damage over Euro 2012 stadium Taipei- Having failed to reach its target of receiving 4 million foreign visitors in 2008, Taiwan plans to reach that target by the end of 2009, an official said Friday.

In 2008, Taiwan received 3.84 million foreign visitors.

Of the total, 1.77 million were tourists, up 7.69 per cent from 2007, while 881,431 were business visitors, down 5.3 per cent from 2007, Janice Lai, director of the Tourism Bureau, said.

Taiwan aide says leaked secrets unrelated to Ma government

Taiwan aide says leaked secrets unrelated to Ma governmentTaipei - A spokesman for Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that nothing from the current government had been stolen and leaked to China by an employee in the presidential office.

Prosecutors detained Wang Jen-ping and former parliament aide Chen Pin-jen early Thursday following questioning over their alleged roles in selling state secrets to China.

"As far as we know, the allegations happened before the handover of power to President Ma, not after he took office on May 20," said spokesman Wang Yu-chi.

Taiwan, China to launch regular flights in July

Taiwan, China to launch regular flights in JulyTaipei  - Taiwan and China are expected to launch regular passengers and cargo flights in July, ending Taipei's six-decade ban on cross-strait air links with the mainland, a newspaper said Friday.

The Commercial Times, quoting an unnamed official, said Taipei and Beijing plan to hold talks in late May to discuss opening regular flights and sign a pact.

The pact will endorse regular flights between Taiwan and China and allow each other's planes to fly on to other countries from Taiwan or China, the paper said.

China Southern Airlines opens office in Taiwan

China Southern Airlines opens office in Taiwan Taipei - China Southern Airlines opened a representative office in Taipei Thursday, becoming the first Chinese airline to gain a foothold in the Taiwan market.

Si Xianmin, chairman of China's largest airline, opened the office in Taipei's trendy Minsheng East Road. Taiwan transport officials and airline representatives attended the opening ceremony.

The office is aimed at promoting China Southern's business links with Taiwan and will not sell plane tickets, which are sold by Taiwan travel agencies.

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