=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2006/06/14/financial/= f032509D41.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, June 14, 2006 (AP) Taiwan Launches Charter Flights With China By STEPHAN GRAUWELS, Associated Press Writer (06-14) 03:25 PDT TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan and China said Wednesday they've agreed to launch direct charter passenger flights between them during major holidays, a key trust-building step toward restoring regular direct flights cut five decades ago amid civil war. Negotiators have also reached a "tentative consensus" on allowing Taiwanese companies to use special chartered cargo flights to fly goods and equipment between the two sides, said Joseph Wu, chairman of the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council. In Beijing, China's General Administration of Civil Aviation said the rivals agreed "on the framework of chartered flights for festivals and special cases," the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The announcement was a major development for the two sides, whose relations are usually characterized by bickering over abstract sovereignty disputes. Although they've allowed chartered passenger flights before, the service has been inconsistent and limited to the Lunar New Year — the biggest Chinese holiday. The new charter flights would serve four annual holidays: Lunar Chinese New Year, Tomb Sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid Autumn Festival, said Wu, Taiwan's top official for China policy. Practical arrangements still have to be worked out, but he expected holiday flights would begin for the Mid Autumn Festival, which falls on Oct. 6 this year. "We expect airlines can begin applying to stage the holiday flights with= in weeks," Wu said. Taiwan has banned regular direct flights between the two sides since they split in 1949 when the Communists took over the mainland and Taiwan began resisting Beijing's rule. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened force if the island moves toward formal independence. The Taiwanese have said that the direct flights pose a serious security threat, but improvements in radar technology have lessened the danger. Taiwan's government has also come under tremendous public pressure to agree to the air service because an estimated 3 million Taiwanese travel to China each year for business or sightseeing. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has struggled to make progess in China relations since he was elected six years ago. Beijing deeply distrusts him largely because he has refused to endorse China's sacred goal of eventual unification. Wednesday's announcement could give Chen's sagging popularity ratings a boost when he desperately needs some good news. He's facing an opposition-led campaign to recall him over alleged corruption in his family. Chen has said his family is innocent. China has threatened to attack Taiwan if it continues to resist unification. But some analysts think Beijing plans to use booming business ties between the two sides to gradually absorb the island, just 100 miles off the mainland's southern coast. Wu also held out hope the rivals would agree within the next few months = to allow tourists from China to visit the island directly. Taiwan now only allows Chinese tourists to enter its territory through a third point, usually Hong Kong. "My expectation is that talks on allowing Chinese tourists will be completed by the end of this year," Wu said. Taiwan began allowing charter flights to China during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2003. But only Taiwanese carriers could provide the service, and they had to stop in Hong Kong en route. A new round of squabbles blocked the flights in 2004. In 2005 and 2006, six Taiwanese and six Chinese carriers operated dozens of round-trip charter flights to take Taiwanese living in China home for the Lunar New Year. Although the flights weren't required to stop en route, they were suppos= ed to fly through Hong Kong airspace. ----------------------------------------= ------------------------------ Copyright 2006 AP