Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday urged the creation of a two-hour “life circle” with the opening of direct flights between Taipei Songshan Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport next month to boost development in both cities.
Hau made the call as he toured several major public construction projects in Shanghai, accompanied by Chinese officials.
As a flight between the two airports takes only about 80 minutes, their proximity and key regional locations could make them transportation hubs in the Yangtze Delta and the Asia-Pacific region respectively, with the establishment of direct air links between the cities, he said.
Air links would closely connect the two cities and provide a boost to trade and industrial development on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Hau said.
Songshan, which is being renovated for the arrival of larger numbers of Chinese tourists starting on July 18, stands a good chance of becoming an airport for international short-range flights, he said, adding that he is confident that the airport would be fully ready in time for the influx of Chinese tourists.
Hau arrived in Shanghai on Monday at the head of a delegation of Taipei City Government officials for a five-day visit.
The main reason for the Shanghai trip was for Hau to witness the signing of an agreement on Taipei’s participation in the 2010 World Expo Shanghai 2010.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is