China Construction Bank Co., the world's second-largest lender by market value, is interested to open a branch in Taiwan and buy assets on the island, its Chairman Guo Shuqing said yesterday after a conference in Beijing.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen voiced opposition Wednesday to a Ministry of Education plan to open Taiwan to Chinese students, citing concern over a possible impact on the local job market.

Taiwan's perceived corruption level edged up slightly in 2009 despite the island's improved world ranking, Transparency International (TI) reported Tuesday.

A special zone will be built to help preserve Pepo culture after a culture park for that purpose was destroyed by Typhoon Morakot in early August, Kaohsiung Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsin said Wednesday.

New Zealand will become the third country this year after Britain and Ireland to grant visa-free privileges to visitors from Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Wednesday.

Ministry of Education (MOE) officials are leading a group of school representatives on a visit to the United Kingdom as part of the preparations for an education white paper that is scheduled for release early next year, a ministry official said Wednesday.

The government is sticking to its plan of tightly examining imports of American beef products after the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blocked yesterday the legislative meeting on revising existing regulations on food safety.

No U.S. ground beef and internal organs have entered the Taiwan market so far while importers and marketers are forced to slash price tags on other American products with no controversies in order to stem sales slide.

The pace for the negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) across the Taiwan Strait will accelerate after the two sides formally inked the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in financial supervision and two-way investments on Monday.

A five-week Hakka arts festival will open in Liukuei township, Pingtung County, Nov. 21 to showcase traditional and innovative aspects of the ethnic group's culture, the top official in charge of national Hakka affairs announced Tuesday.