Taiwan and China agreed on June 13, 2008 to expand Charter flights and tourism, a step towards ending a 59-year break in transport links and a likely harbinger of further progress in ties between the long-estranged rivals. The pact, signed in Beijing during their first formal talks since 1999, came one day after Taiwan’s representatives said that they had reached a consensus with their Chinese counterparts on exchanging permanent representative offices.
Such missions would mark a huge step forward in establishing contacts and mutual trust, although Taiwan’s Chief negotiator, Chiang Pinkung, emphasized that officials in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, still need to approve the measures, “There is still a long way to go for normalization of cross-strait economic and trade exchanges”, Chiang told reporters “There are still many issues to be discussed including expanding weekend charter flights into regular charter flights,” he said.
The expansion of charter flights was a key agenda item for talks that began on June 12, 2008. Those flights are now limited to four annual Chinese holidays and are usually packed with Taiwanese residents on the main land returning home to visit family.
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