Taiwan and China yesterday hammered out a landmark agreement on non-stop charter flights for the Lunar New Year holiday, a move hailed by some as the biggest breakthrough in cross-strait relations in years.
"The agreement will have a significant, positive impact upon cross-strait relations," Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday.
PHOTO:CNA
The agreement ushers in the first "direct" cross-strait flights since air links were terminated after the Civil War ended in 1949. The successful talks may serve as a departure point toward thawed relations between Taiwan and China, the council said.
"This round of talks sets a good example for cross-strait negotiations. Now both Taiwan and China are weighing the possibility of a `Macau model' for further delegates to follow," Chiu said.
During the meeting in Macau, the negotiators decided that a total of 48 flights will take off from Jan. 29 to Feb. 20.
The flights will travel to and from Taipei and Kaohsiung and the Chinese cities of Bejing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Six Taiwanese airlines and six Chinese carriers will be authorized to take Taiwanese businesspeople home.
Both sides expressed satisfaction with the progress, and said they were confident they could settle remaining undecided technical affairs soon.
"There is no difficulty. We solved everything very quickly," Billy Chang (
"In a very short time, in a cordial atmosphere, we have come to an agreement," Pu Zhaozhou (
As the final agreement mapped out the available routes, domestic air carriers are now vying to get their share of the flights.
China Airlines Corp (
Meanwhile, all six carriers also expressed their interest in flights to and from Shanghai, which has a large population of Taiwanese businesspeople. EVA Airways Corp (
Smaller carriers also declared their preferences. Mandarin Airlines Corp (
In 2003, Taiwan and China instituted Lunar New Year flights from Shanghai to Taipei to take Taiwanese working in China home, with stops in Hong Kong or Macau.
There were no such flights last year.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
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SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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