Taipei - Hong Kong's English-language daily the South China Morning Post Monday refuted media reports that it would launch a bilingual newspaper in Taiwan.

"There is no truth to recently published reports that the South China Morning Post plans to launch a new publication, either in print or online, in Taiwan," the South China Morning Post (SCMP) Group said in a press statement.

It said the group has not appointed anyone to conduct business or negotiate on its behalf with respect to launching a new venture in Taiwan.

The statement came after Taiwanese news media reported on Sunday that the paper plans to launch an online bilingual news publication in Taiwan in response to growing ties between China and Taiwan.

According to the Economic Daily News, SCMP plans to hire several economic and finance experts as it prepares to launch a Taiwan edition.

SCMP stressed it reserves the right to take appropriate legal action against anyone who falsely claims to represent the SCMP group or its paper.

The 106-year-old daily is the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong with some 100,000 subscribers and is known as one of the top English-language dailies in Asia. (dpa)