PRESS DIGEST-Taiwan - May 15

TAIPEI, May 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan newspapers carried the following stories on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA TIMES

-- Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said in a speech in Taipei that Taiwan had no reason not to improve trade ties with China, which he expected to become the world's biggest economy during his lifetime.

-- Chen Chu, mayor of the southern port city Kaohsiung and a leading figure in Taiwan's main opposition party, will visit China on May 21 to promote the city's tourism.

UNITED DAILY NEWS

-- Taiwan's cabinet approved a package to promote the island's arts and culture, with 200,000 jobs likely to be created.

-- China has picked the Fujian province as a first test site for the implementation of a broad trade agreement with Taiwan.

LIBERTY TIMES

-- More than 16 percent of college graduates are still seeking jobs, a figure 4 percent above a year earlier, according to an education ministry survey.

COMMERCIAL TIMES

-- KGI Securities (6008.TWO) will pay T$28 billion ($850 million) in cash and T$1 billion in company shares for the brokerage unit of Taishin Financial (2887.TW).

-- TSMC (2330.TW) (TSM.N) Chairman Morris Chang says orders at the company now stretch to August, and the utilisation rate at its 8-inch wafer facility is now close to 90 percent.

ECONOMIC DAILY NEWS

-- Shin Kong Life, the insurance unit of Shin Kong Financial (2888.TW), will pay T$1.468 billion for a piece of land in Taipei's Neihu district.