Taipei  - Taiwan's former security chief admitted Tuesday to giving former president Chen Shui-bian two sensitive documents concerning alleged money-laundering implicating Chen's family.

"I felt pained in the past 20 days over the case and I believe honesty is the best policy, so I decided to tell the truth," Yeh Sheng-mao told a hastily called news conference in Taipei.

Yeh, who was indicted on Thursday for covering up the snowballing money-laundering scandal, said he received a report from international investigators on January 29 saying Chen's family was suspected of laundering money through bank accounts set up by his son and daughter-in-law in the Cayman Islands.

Taipei - Taiwan's bicycle manufacturer Giant, riding on robust sales in China due to the Beijing Olympics, is poised to achieve at least 10 per cent growth in output in 
2008, the company said Tuesday.

"In 2007 we manufactured 5.02 million bikes. In the first half of 2008, our output hit 2.96 million units, up 6 per cent year-on-year in quantity and up 25 per cent in revenue," Giant spokesman Jeffrey Sheu said.

Giant, a world leader in high-end bikes, is optimistic about its whole-year output as it had bumper sales in Beijing in the run-up and during the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

Taipei - Taiwan on Tuesday denied that its diplomatic ties with Paraguay are shaky, following press reports that Paraguay will stop backing United Nations membership for Taiwan.

"In our allies' change of government, there might be changes in their support for our joining international organizations, but it will not affect bilateral ties," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Chen Ming-cheng told reporters.

"President Lugo has said several times that Paraguay-Taiwan ties are solid, so Taiwan-Paraguay ties will not change because of change in Paraguay's support for Taiwan's UN bid," he noted.

Taipei - Taiwanese glass manufacturers are teaming up to bid for the contract to supply glass to the world's tallest building, Burj Dubai, it was reported Sunday.

An estimated 110 Taiwan glass manufacturers plan to form a consortium to bid for the contract for the Dubai Tower, which will stand at more than 800 metres when it is unveiled in 2009, and replace the 508-metre Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building.

Taipei - Tens of thousands of Taiwan separatists gathered in Taipei Saturday to protest President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China policy and the island's economic woes.

The demonstrators will march through the main streets in Taipei and hold a rally in front of the Presidential Office Building to marks 100 days since Ma took office.

The protest is organized by a dozen pro-independence groups, led by the Taiwan Society and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The organizers expect 100,000 people to join in the march.