Taipei - Taiwan's benchmark s

Taipei - A Taiwan delegation flew to China Monday to hold preparatory talks on the upcoming Taipei-Beijing dialogue aimed at expanding exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.

The 11-member delegation is led by Kao Kung-lien, vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Association. The talks will be held Monday afternoon in Shenzhen, south China.

The talks would pave the way for the November 3 formal dialogue between Taipei and Beijing to discuss expanding exchanges as proposed by President Ma Ying-jeou.

China negotiator Chen Yunlin will be the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan since 1949, when Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War.

Taipei - The global financial crisis and soaring oil prices have hit the airline and car industries, but for the likes of Taiwanese bicycle maker Giant the crisis proves a boon.

The bike industry has seen its sales soar as people abandoned their cars and motorbikes for bicycles.

Giant Bicycles, the world's largest manufacturer of high-end bikes, said its sales have spiked in recent months, causing the company to raise its 2008 growth target from 
10 per cent to 20 per cent.

Taipei - Taiwan's pro-independence groups rallied tens of thousands anti-China and anti-government supporters in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policies and the island's economic downturn.

"Opposing toxic China, defending Taiwan," the protesters shouted as they marched along the streets of the capital's bustling centre from five directions towards the Presidential Office, where they staged a demonstration against the Ma government.

Taipei - Taiwan's right-wing opposition rallied thousands in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policies and the island's economic downturn.

The march, organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), criticized Ma's alleged selling out of Taiwan's interests to China and Taiwan's economic downturn.

Ma took office in May after his Chinese Nationalist Party swept back into power in the March 22 presidential elections, ending the DPP's 8-year rule.

Taipei- Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that he would meet with Chinese negotiator Chen Yunlin when Chen visits Taipei next month to sign four pacts on expanding exchanges.

Ma told the Central News Agency (CNA) that while Taiwan and China do not recognize each other now, they should not deny each other's existence.

Chen, China's top negotiator on Taiwan, is to hold talks with his Taiwan counterpart, Chiang Ping-kun, starting November 3 in Taipei to discuss expanding exchanges that began after Ma took office on May 20.