Beijing is expected to announce new policies regarding plans to implement cross-strait cargo charter flights tomorrow, according to a report in China's official China Daily newspaper yesterday.
The report quoted Pu Zhaozhou (浦照洲), executive director of the China Civil Aviation Association, as saying that China was willing to take practical steps toward an early implementation of direct air links, including charter cargo flights, between Taiwan and China.
"Related officials will elaborate on our attitude toward and our stance on the issue at the news conference to be held by the Taiwan Affairs Office [TAO]," Pu said.
The TAO's weekly press conference is usually scheduled to be held on Thursday, but it has reportedly already been pushed back to tomorrow.
Efforts toward implementing charter cargo flights came under the spotlight following the successful operation of non-stop charter passenger flights for Taiwanese businesspeople during the Lunar New Year. Prompted by the breakthrough charter flights and the preceding negotiations, President Chen Shui-bian (
Pu made the comments on Tuesday during an annual New Year's banquet hosted by China's Civil Aviation Association. The banquet brought together airline operators from China, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. In attendance were representatives from Taiwan's primary carriers, including Michael Lo (
"The passenger charters just concluded at the Lunar New Year holiday provided a sound basis for future cargo charter flights across the Taiwan Strait," Lo was quoted as saying.
Lo and Pu, during a meeting in Macau on Jan. 15, hammered out an agreement that made possible the just concluded New Year charter passenger flights.
As head of the TAA, Lo had been formally authorized by the Mainland Affairs Council to conduct negotiations with Beijing under the supervision of transportation officials.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial