MACAU: Taiwan and China Saturday agreed to landmark direct flights for next month's Lunar New Year holidays, a mainland official said.
The flights would run from January 29 until February 20, head of the Chinese delegation and executive director of the China Civil Aviation Association, Pu Zhaozhou, told reporters.
The 24 round-trip flights would stop briefly in Hong Kong and connect the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Pu said, reading from a statement.
Taipei has banned direct transport exchanges across the Taiwan Strait since it split from China in 1949 after a civil war.
China still considers the island part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
During the Chinese New Year holidays in 2003, six Taiwanese airliners were allowed to fly to Shanghai to pick up Taiwanese businesspeople and take them home via Hong Kong or Macau. There was no similar service in 2004.
Despite the longstanding ban on direct links, limited direct exchanges - known as "mini-links" - were opened in 2002 between Taiwan's frontline islands of Matsu and Kinmen and selected ports in China's southeastern Fujian province.
Taiwan and China ties have been increasingly strained since the re-election of Taiwan's pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian in March last year. - AFP
Does bth parties have any ill intention?