Taipei - Taiwan, aiming at advancing to the top eight in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, on Monday announced the preliminary selection of players for the tournament.

The Chinese-Taipei Professional Baseball League announced the names of 48 players, including 11 who are playing for US teams and six playing for Japanese teams.

Wang Chien-ming, the Taiwan pitcher serving the New York Yankees, cannot play for Taiwan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic because Yankees refused to let him take leave.

Taipei  - Taiwan stocks opened the New Year on Monday by surging nearly 5 per cent, on the government's economics stimulus plan, improved Taiwan-China ties and US and European stocks' surge.

The TAIEX benchmark index rose 134.04 points, or 2.92 per cent when the stock market opened at 9 am after being closed for four trading days since Wednesday for the New Year holidays.

By 10 am, the TAIEX had climbed 157.99, or 3.44 per cent, to 4,749.21.

Taipei  - A Taiwan island is seeking investment to build itself into an international casino resort, a newspaper said on Monday.

The Penghu county government is seeking 30 billion Taiwan dollars (909 million US dollars) in private investment to help develop massive casino resorts, the Taipei Times quoted the cabinet's Public Construction Commission (PCC) as saying.

Taipei  - Taiwan's foreign trade is expected to shrink in 2009 owing to lingering effects of the global financial crisis, according to a government report released Sunday.

Taiwan's exports last year grew 7.19 per cent to 264.4 billion US dollars while imports rose 13.83 per cent to 249.6 billion, according to the report by the Bureau of Foreign Trade carried by the Central News Agency. The trade surplus fell to 14.8 billion dollars from 2007's 27.4 billion.

For 2009, exports are forecast to contract 1.35 per cent to 260.8 billion dollars, imports to drop 4.2 per cent to 239 billion and the trade surplus to increase to 21.7 billion.

Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in his New Year speech on Thursday, vowed to seek peace with China while safeguarding the island's sovereignty.

Braving a morning chill, Ma joined tens of thousands in Taipei for a traditional national flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office.

In his New Year speech, Ma said that 2008 saw the start of Taiwan-China economic and trade normalization by launching air, sea and postal links.

Taipei  - Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp will open a branch in Turkey to expand its global container shipping business, the company said Wednesday.

Yang Ming Anatolia Shipping Agency is a joint venture between Yang Ming and its Turkish agent Egekont Container Transport. It will begin operation in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 1, 2009.