Taipei - Taiwan is to provide visa exemptions to certain foreign nationals who have already obtained visas from "advanced countries," press reports said Monday.

Starting January 20, 2009, citizens from India, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia will be allowed to visit Taiwan without a visa if their passports are stamped with permanent residency visas from Canada or the United States, according to the Central News Agency (CNA).

Beijing  - Chinese officials hailed Monday's opening of direct transport and postal links with Taiwan as a historic step that was expected to boost both their economies.

"Today is another memorable date in the history of cross-strait relations, ... which signifies that our 30-year effort has finally paid off," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Yi, China's top official for Taiwan affairs, as saying.

Direct shipping links would greatly reduce costs and give a "new impetus" to relations between mainland China and Taiwan, said Wang, who heads the ruling Communist Party's Taiwan Work Office and its government equivalent.

Taipei  - A Shenzhen Airlines plane from China landed at Taipei's Sungshan Airport early Monday, as the two former civil war enemies opened direct transport and postal links.

The plane, which left Shenzhen airport at 7:20 am (2320 GMT) carrying 112 people, arrived at Sungshan Airport in an hour and 30 minutes, becoming the first plane from China to kick off the historic daily charter flights across the Taiwan Strait.

Taipei  - Pope Benedict XVI has turned down the invitation from the Archbishop of the Taipei Archdiocese to visit Taiwan next year, news reports said Sunday.

The Central News Agency said that Archbishop John Hung extended the invitation to the pope during his week-long visit to the Holy See which ended on Sunday.

During two audiences, Hung invited the pope to attend celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic church in Taiwan. The pope only smiled and gave no affirmative answer.

A Vatican official told Hung that the pope had a busy scheduled for the next two years, so he probably would not be able to visit Taiwan. But he would send an envoy to preside over the celebrations in Taiwan.

Taipei  - Taiwan's Foreign Minister Francisco Ou has come under criticism by the opposition party for saying that the Dalai Lama's overseas visits are politically motivated, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Ou made the remark Saturday while giving a speech on Taiwan's foreign policies at the Yishou University in Kaohsiung County, south Taiwan, according to the Liberty Times.

During the question and answer period, a student asked Ou's opinion on the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, visiting Taiwan.

Taipei - Taiwan's ruling party chief Wu Poh-hsiung returned home Saturday after visiting Japan to boost ties and achieving Tokyo's promise to back Taiwan joining the World Health Organization (WHO).

During the week-long visit, Wu, chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party, met with Japanese officials and held two news conferences to convey President Ma Ying-jeou's message that Taiwan values its ties with Japan while improving ties with China.