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- How many airlines have international flights to Taiwan?
As of the end of 2001, a total of 39 international airlines were offering commercial flights to Taiwan from major cities throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and North America. Passengers may choose to embark or disembark at either the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in northern Taiwan or the Kaohsiung International Airport in the south. Direct flights to China have not been approved, and most travelers from Taiwan go there indirectly through Hong Kong or Macau.
- What are Taiwan's major harbors?
Taiwan has six major international harbors: Keelung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Anping, Taichung, and Suao. Imports and exports handled by these and other smaller ports amounted to 234.1 million metric tons in 2001. Kaohsiung Harbor in southern Taiwan is the world's fourth-largest container port, with a total of 7.54 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) handled in 2001. Taichung Harbor in central Taiwan is a man-made port covering a total area of about 5,000 hectares. Keelung at the northern tip of Taiwan has 57 berths and three mooring docks. Hualien Harbor, which is located on the Pacific coast of Taiwan; Suao, which is on the northeastern coast; and Taiwan's newest international harbor at Anping in the southwest, handled most of Taiwan's remaining traffic.
- What are the major transportation systems in Taiwan? Is it easy to travel
around Taiwan?
Traveling in Taiwan is very simple due to the variety and efficiency of its major transportation systems.
Taiwan's railways provide frequent and convenient passenger services between all major cities on the island. The railway administration has a computerized ticketing system, an automated phone ticketing system serving major cities, and a ticket reservation service on the Internet. Travel around the entire island in just one day is possible; and travel between Taipei in the north and Kaohsiung in the south takes just 4.5 hours by express train. Some 186 million passengers traveled by rail in 2001.
A 345-kilometer high-speed rail (HSR) system is under construction in western Taiwan, with ten stations between Taipei and Kaohsiung. The overall construction cost of the HSR project will be about US$13.1 billion. Travel time from north to south will be reduced to around 90 minutes, compared to the 4.5 hours required for the existing train or highway systems.
Travelers can also choose from six airlines that run domestic passenger flights. Work is currently under way to expand the capacity of most local airports, since domestic air travel is expected to grow at an annual rate of about 10 percent for the next five years.
A less expensive option is to travel on the efficient and extensive network of highways. The total length of highways on the island, not counting those running through major cities, currently measures around 20,000 kilometers. However, the number of highway passengers is on the decline, as is the volume of freight transported via highways.
Major cities offer comprehensive bus and taxi services. Most of the mass rapid transit system serving metropolitan Taipei is operational, and construction of a similar mass rapid transit system for Kaohsiung began in October 2001 and is expected to be completed in December 2004. Taichung, Tainan, and Taoyuan have also initiated plans for mass rapid transit systems.
- How has the telecommunications industry developed in Taiwan?
In recent years, the government has increasingly liberalized its telecommunications sector, established a mechanism for fair competition, and accelerated the development of a broadband network infrastructure. Mobile phone, radio paging, trunking radio, and mobile data services were opened to the private sector in 1997, followed by satellite communications in 1998; cable leasing and 1900MHz digital low-power cordless phone services in 1999; fixed networking and international submarine cable leased-circuit services in 2000; and international simple resale (ISR) and third-generation mobile telecommunications services in 2001.
Local phone services are available via fixed networks throughout Taiwan. In 2001, three private companies began competing with Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (CHT), which dominates Taiwan's fixed network telecommunications market. All of these networks are connected, facilitating dial-up connections to selected local phone service providers and a choice of other long-distance and international phone service providers.
Since liberalization at the end of 1997, mobile phone services have become more diverse, and the number of subscribers has increased. As of April 2002, Taiwan had a cell phone penetration rate of 100.7 percent, with 22.6 million subscribers, versus a fixed-line penetration rate of only 57.7 percent. Taiwan's Internet penetration rate is 35 percent, ranking it 18th in the world and fifth in Asia.
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