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Taiwan, China sign pacts on weekend charter flights, tourism

ROC Central News Agency

2008-06-13 11:56:31

    Beijing, June 13 (CNA) Representatives of Taiwan and China officially sealed agreements Friday in Beijing paving the way for the July 4 launch of weekend direct cross-Taiwan Strait charter flights and allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan from July 18.

    The accords were signed on behalf of the two sides by Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and his Chinese counterpart, Chen Yunlin of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).

    Both sides agreed that Chinese carriers will be allowed to set up preparatory offices in cities where they will operate the weekend charter flights. The preparatory offices can be upgraded to branch offices after six months.

    Also, Chinese tourists must arrive in Taiwan and leave in groups, with a daily entry ceiling capped at 3,000 in the initial stage. The number will be adjusted in the second year according to market demand.

    The two sides also agreed that the tourist number of each group should fall within the range of 10 to 40, with a maximum stay of 10 days.

    Taiwan has opened its doors to group tours by certain categories of Chinese citizens since 2002, but ordinary Chinese citizens cannot make sightseeing visits to the island until July 18.

    Representatives from Taiwan and China had previously held several rounds of negotiations on the two issues, but were not able to seal an agreement owing to differences on some crucial provisions.

    The negotiations were taken over by the SEF and ARATS -- the two semi-official intermediary bodies set up by Taiwan and China, respectively, to handle cross-strait affairs in the absence of official ties -- after Beijing finally agreed to the resumption of dialogue between the two organizations.

    Relations between the two sides have been thawing in the wake of the Kuomintang administration's May 20 inauguration. The Chiang-Chen talks that took place Thursday in Beijing marked the first of its kind in nine years.

    Exchanges between the two organizations ground to a halt in 1999 when then-Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui described cross-strait ties as a special state-to-state relationship. Beijing continued to refuse dialogue with Taiwan during the eight-year administration of former President Chen Shui-bian of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

    The icy relations began to warm up after the March 22 election of President Ma Ying-jeou, who has proposed that the two sides resume dialogue on the basis of the so-called "1992 consensus" that allows both sides to agree to disagree on the meaning of "one China."

(By Chiang Jin-yeh and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/J