Taiwan has launched a series of advertising campaigns in London to promote the country and its tourism ahead of and during the Olympics.

Taiwan's representative office in the UK says that starting in June, a series of advertising campaigns, including "The future made by Taiwan", "The best bicycle journey starts from Taiwan," and "Greener innovations that's Taiwan", have been available in major underground stations in London.

Taiwan's Tourism Bureau is also using London taxis as an outdoor advertising platform. Many taxis now run around London carrying the tag line "Time for Taiwan". The bureau says it will launch another wave of advertising campaign in the media in late July.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese smarphone maker HTC's CEO, Peter Chou, was invited to run the Olympic torch in London on Friday. Another two heavyweights of Taiwan's IT industry, Jason Hsuan and Simon Chen, were also invited. The running of the torch is a great honor and the participation of the three IT leaders shows Taiwan's significance in the global IT industry.