By Tan Ung | June 12, 2008
BEIJING (AFP) — China and Taiwan signed historic agreements on Friday that from next month will see thousands more people travel every day between the two traditional rivals.
On the second day of landmark talks in Beijing aimed at easing decades of tensions, negotiators agreed to establish regular direct flights between China and Taiwan from July, finally ending time-consuming forced stopovers in Hong Kong.
They will also triple the number of mainland visitors allowed to travel to Taiwan each day to 3,000 in what promises to be a major boost for the island’s tourism industry.
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By Tan Ung | June 12, 2008
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States welcomed the start Thursday of historic talks between China and Taiwan aimed at consolidating a dramatic rapprochement and building trade ties.
“We believe it’s important for the two to work toward a peaceful resolution of the … cross-strait issues,” Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters, referring to the Taiwan Strait.
“Our understanding is that they had a good conversation. And we are hoping that they will continue in the future,” he said.
As they began their historic talks, China and Taiwan agreed on Thursday to set up their first ever offices in each others’ territories.
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By Tan Ung | June 7, 2008
Chinese troops have begun draining a “quake lake” at Tangjiashan, formed behind a landslide after the 12 May earthquake in Sichuan province.
Water started draining through a sluice and channel built to release some of the water threatening to break through the make-shift dam.
More than 250,000 people have already been evacuated to higher ground.
Experts had warned the lake could burst at any time, sending millions of cubic metres of water down river valleys.
“Emergency work is still proceeding urgently, but in the foreseeable future there’s no risk of the dam collapsing,” Xinhua News Agency quoted Chengdu Military Region Deputy Commander Fan Xiaoguang as saying.
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By Tan Ung | June 7, 2008
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Sat Jun 7, 7:09 AM ET
WASHINGTON - A global credit crisis and record oil prices will be competing with traditional trade and currency issues when top officials from the United States and China gather in Annapolis, Md., later this month.
However, there is little expectation the fourth round of these high-level discussions will produce any major breakthroughs.
The discussions, given the weighty title of the “Strategic Economic Dialogue” when they were launched in 2006, could in fact be on life support, waiting to be put out of their misery by the next administration.
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