BEIJING, Jan. 11 -- A breakthrough may be expected in launching two-way, round-trip and non-stop charter flights across the Taiwan Straits next month after Beijing officially agreed to such an arrangement yesterday.

Chen Yunlin (right), director of Taiwan Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, meets with Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the Kuomintang's central policy committee January 10, 2005 in Beijing. [newsphoto]

Chen Yunlin, minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, expressed a welcome to the proposal raised by Taiwan's "mainland affairs council" while urging the Taiwan authorities to honour its pledge.

    "If Taiwan can keep its words and is willing to take flexible measures, mainland-Taiwan air links can be totally achieved this year," he told a delegation of Taiwanese opposition politicians.

    Once the two-way, direct cross-Straits charter flight plan is put into place during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, it would be the first such air links in more than five decades because Taipei has banned mainland airplanes since 1949.

    Chen demanded non-government talks be held between industrial associations and airlines across the Straits to work out technical and business details for the flights.

    Any move by Taipei to complicate non-government negotiations under the excuse of "public right" and "security" goes against the interests of the broad mass of Taiwan compatriots, he said.

    Chen met with the six-member Kuomintang (KMT) delegation, which arrived in Beijing on Sunday to push for direct cross-Straits charter flights during the 2005 Spring Festival, which falls on February 9.

    Scores of representatives from mainland-based Taiwanese-funded enterprises and Taiwanese airlines also attended the meeting.

    "Lawmaker" Tseng Yung-chuan, head of the KMT group, quoted Chen as saying the mainland agrees to the model for "non-stop, round-trip, multi-destination flights by carriers on both sides."

    "Minister Chen told us the direct charter flight programme for the 2005 Spring Festival will be officially started from today and preparations will come in coming days," Tseng said after the meeting.

    John Chang, another member of the KMT delegation, said Beijing has also agreed to expand mainland destinations for the charter flight plan to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou and Xiamen instead of only Shanghai.

    Meanwhile, the mainland will allow charter planes to fly via Ryukyu in Japan besides the current flight route via Hong Kong or Macao, he said.

    Chang suggested that the ball has been put in the court of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration led by Chen Shui-bian.

    "Related mainland departments have demonstrated abundant sincerity and flexibility during the talks... and we hope the DPP administration will make a wise judgment to meet the great expectations of the public," said Chang, who proposed the direct cross-Straits charter flights in 2002.

    He said the KMT delegation will report the agreements reached with the Taiwan Affairs Office to the "mainland affairs council" and urge the DPP administration to immediately authorize industrial associations and airlines to start discussions with their mainland counterparts.

    "As time is running out, we hope the government will take action at once to facilitate talks for technical and business issues," said Chang.

    Gao Hongfeng, deputy director of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, also held talks with the KMT mission yesterday afternoon.

    He said the practice for handling charter flights during the 2003 Spring Festival, which has been proven convenient and feasible, should be applied to this year's scheme.

    In 2003, six Taiwanese airlines operated a total of 16 charter flights between Taipei, Kaohsiung and Shanghai, the first time that Taiwan commercial aircraft landed on the mainland since 1949.

    But all charter planes were required to transit through Hong Kong or Macao and mainland carriers were completely excluded from the charter flights.

    In 2004, the charter flight programme was grounded because Taipei insisted on the exclusion of mainland airlines and stopovers for charter flights.

    In a related development, Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines said it has contacted the Taiwan-based China Airlines to prepare for the proposed direct charter flights.

    "If the direct flight plan is approved, China Eastern will immediately set up a leading group to guide the non-stop flights," said Luo Chaogeng, president of China Eastern Airlines.

    "We will hammer out a detailed plan to make everything smooth," he said.

    China Airlines said yesterday that it will provide ground services for China Eastern when its planes land at airports in Taiwan.

    Cherry Teng, a spokeswoman with the Shanghai Office of China Airlines, said the charter planes will fly on the air route from Shanghai to Taiwan via Hong Kong, but they will not touch down.

    The journey will take around four hours, about three hours less than normal flights.

    "But at present, information about the flight schedule is unavailable," Teng said. Enditem

(Source: China Daily)