Passengers from southeast China's Taiwan
gesture before boarding the plane at the airport in Shenzhen, south
China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 15, 2008. A Shenzhen Airlines flight took
off from the Shenzhen Airport for Taiwan at 7:20 Beijing Time (2320 GMT
Dec. 14), the first when the Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct
air and sea transport and postal services Monday morning. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and
Taiwan started direct air and sea transport and postal services on Monday amid
warming ties, ending a 59-year ban on such links.
Formerly, air and sea movements -- including mail --
had to go by way of a third place.
The direct daily transport started as a
mainland-based Shenzhen Airlines flight took off from the Shenzhen Airport for
Taipei at 7:20 a.m.(2320 GMT Sunday), which was followed by a Taiwan-based
TransAsia Airways jetliner from Taipei to Shanghai.
The first day witnessed 16 flights between Taipei and
six mainland cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Tianjin and
Guangzhou, which were nearly 90 percent full.
More flights will be opened late this week, linking
more cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Dalian, Haikou, Xiamen in the
mainland and Kaohsiung and Taichung in Taiwan.
The direct air links will cut flight time
significantly as planes are no longer required to fly through Hong Kong's
airspace, a detour that the Taiwan authorities formerly insisted on citing
security concerns.
It now takes 90 minutes, compared with two and half
hours previously, to fly from Shanghai to Taipei because the distance has been
shortened to 950 kilometers from 1,900 km, said Su Langen, an official with the
mainland's Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The Mainland's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office
Executive Deputy Director, Zhang Lizhong, said the start of direct flights
marked a key step in the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.
"Given the global financial crisis, cross-Strait
direct flights started at exactly the right time," Zheng said at a ceremony in
Shanghai. Direct links "will help the mainland and Taiwan jointly overcome the
current (economic) difficulty," Zheng said.
The launch of direct links came after the two sides
signed a series of landmark agreements last month in Taipei.
Under the agreements, the two sides agreed to launch
regular passenger charter flights, which formerly only flew on weekends and the
four major traditional festivals.
The mainland agreed to open another 16 terminals for
passenger charter flights, besides the five already opened, while Taiwan has
already opened eight terminals. The number of flights will increase to 108 every
week with the number to be adjusted according to demand.
They also agreed to launch direct charter cargo
flights between two mainland terminals, Pudong in Shanghai and Guangzhou
airports, and two Taiwan terminals, Taoyuan and Kaohsiung.
There will be 60 return cargo flights per month,
evenly divided between mainland and Taiwan airlines. The first flight was
conducted by the China Southern Airlines from Guangzhou to Taipei on Monday
afternoon.
(From L to R) Chen Yunlin, president of
the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan
Straits, Li Shenglin, Chinese minister of communications, Lien Chan,
Kuomintang honorary chairman, Zhang Gaoli, member of the Political Bureau
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chief
of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, Zheng Wantong, vice chairman of
the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference, and Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's
State Council (Cabinet), attend the ceremony marking the start of direct
sea transport between China's mainland and Taiwan in north China's Tianjin
port, Dec. 15, 2008. The Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct air
and sea transport and postal services Monday morning. (Xinhua/Liu
Haifeng) Photo
Gallery>>>
DIRECT SEA AND MAIL
LINKS
Monday also marked the start of direct shipping and
postal services across the 300-km-long, 150-km-wide Taiwan Strait which controls
the seaway between China's north and south.
Zheng Jian, 81, became the first mainland resident to
post a direct mail to his Taiwan relatives at a ceremony on Monday morning in
Beijing.
Born in Taiwan, Zheng left for the mainland to attend
college shortly before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
And since then his family was separated.
"What is good for me is that with a direct postal
service, I can mail the herbal medicine I bought here to my younger sister in
Taiwan directly," he said.
A similar ceremony was held in Taipei, at which
Taiwan's Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. Chairman Wu Min-Yu posted an express letter to
Liu Andong, president of the mainland's China Post Corp.
An employee of Chunghwa Post told Xinhua that the
mail was scheduled to leave on a 10 a.m. flight from Taipei to Beijing. "Mr. Liu
will probably receive the mail before he leaves his office this afternoon," the
worker said.
The mainland and Taiwan did not have direct express
mail service in the past. Ordinary or registered mail from Taiwan to the
mainland first went through the Hong Kong or Macao Special Administrative
Regions, then to distribution centers in Beijing or Shanghai before it was
delivered.
With the start of direct air and shipping services,
Taiwan transport authorities estimated that the delivery time of ordinary
letters from Taiwan to Beijing or Shanghai will be shortened to five to six days
from the previous seven to eight days.
To speed up mail services, the mainland has agreed to
open three more delivery centers in Nanjing, Xi'an and Chengdu in addition to
the previous five centers -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Fuzhou.
Taiwan also agreed to add three centers -- Kaohsiung,
Kinmen and Matsu -- to those already functioning, which were Taipei and Keelung.
Also on Monday morning, a freighter of the
mainland-based China Shipping Group left Tianjin port for Keelung in Taiwan,
starting the first direct voyage across the Strait. Shortly afterwards, another
mainland cargo ship left Taicang port in eastern Jiangsu Province for the
island.
Mei Zhengrong, director of the Taicang Port
Management Office, said the vessels no longer need to make detours to
southwestern Japan's Ishigaki island en route to Taiwan.
"The distance and time from Taicang to a Taiwan port
will be shortened by 200 nautical miles and 36 hours," Mei told Xinhua. "It will
reduce fuel and visa costs by 10,000 U.S. dollars each trip."
Mainland transport authorities have estimated that
direct shipping would help the two sides reduce the annual aggregate shipping
time by 110,000 hours and transportation costs by 100 million U.S. dollars.
Under the agreement on direct shipping, passenger and
cargo vessels owned by mainland and Taiwan companies may sail directly across
the Strait subject to official approval.
The mainland will open 63 ports to Taiwan ships while
Taiwan will open 11. The two sides might increase the number of ports based on a
"developing situation," according to the agreement.
Tseng Yee-lun (2nd L), a Shenzhen
Airlines air hostess from southeast China's Taiwan, gestures as passengers
board the plane at the Shenzhen Airport in Shenzhen, south China's
Guangdong Province, Dec. 15, 2008. A Shenzhen Airlines flight took off
from the Shenzhen Airport for Taiwan at 7:20 Beijing Time (2320 GMT Dec.
14), the first when the Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct air and
sea transport and postal services Monday morning. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
SIGN OF RECONCILIATION
With annual bilateral trade volume surpassing 100
billion U.S. dollars, the new direct links were welcomed by most on both sides.
Ceremonies to mark the direct links drew many dignitaries, business tycoons and
created a media frenzy.
State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi
and Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan met at a port in
Tianjin to celebrate the start of cross-Strait direct shipping.
"Today is another memorable date in the history of
cross-Strait relations ... which signifies that our 30-year effort has finally
paid off," Wang said.
Wang said direct shipping links will greatly cut
costs, boost cross-Strait trade and personnel exchanges and provide a "new
impetus" for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.
He said the start of direct transport and mail
services showed that regardless of difficulties, anything could be realized so
long as it would benefit compatriots across the Strait and meet development
needs.
"The peaceful development of cross-Strait relations
is unstoppable. The prospect of the peaceful development is brighter," he said.
In south Taiwan's Kaohsiung port, Taiwan leader Ma
Ying-Jeou attended a ceremony to witness a container ship departing for Tianjin,
carrying textiles, chemical and paper products.
Calling the direct links a symbol of "reconciliation"
between the island and the mainland, Ma expressed the hope that the two sides
could work together for common peace and prosperity.
Ma said he was "happy and satisfied" because direct
cross-Strait links marked an era of negotiation and reconciliation instead of
confrontation between the two sides.
Mainland resident Zheng Jian, 81, who
was born in southeast China's Taiwan, posts a letter to his Taiwan
relatives at the ceremony marking the start of direct postal service
between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, in Beijing, capital of China,
Dec. 15, 2008. The Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct air and sea
transport and postal service Monday morning. (Xinhua/Wang
Yongji) Photo
Gallery>>>
CLOSER TIES
EXPECTED
The largest trading partner of Taiwan since 2003, the
mainland now hosts more than one million Taiwanese investors, students,
employees and residents. Mainland statistics by July showed that Taiwan had
invested over 46.4 billion dollars in 76,000 projects.
The launch of direct links has been widely seen as
creating new opportunities for lower cost, greater efficiency and
competitiveness for the mainland and Taiwan businesses which both felt pinch of
global economic woes.
Li Mao-sheng, chairman of the Shanghai-based
Federation of Taiwan Investors, told Xinhua that his plastic-manufacturing
company would hugely benefit from direct shipping because of the cut in
logistics costs.
"Thanks to more convenient and freer flows of
capitals, human resources and technologies, Taiwanese investors can upgrade
their business plans in the mainland," said Ding Kunhua from the Association of
Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland.
"Economic ties will be further enhanced once the
investment transfers from manufacturing industry to service sectors such as
financial service and logistics," he said.
Taiwan businessman Fang Ting-yuh said he had been
expecting the direct travel since he launched an electronics company in
Yangzhou, Jiangsu, in 1992. Yangzhou is about 2.5 hours away from Shanghai by
car.
"Now it's possible to commute between my home in
Taiwan and the factory in Yangzhou on a daily base," he said. "It's good to feel
that my home is closer to me."
Markets on both sides of the Strait reacted
positively on Monday, with Taiwan share prices closing up 2.96 percent.
The Taiwan stock market opened at 4,604 and the
weighted index rose 132 points at 4,613 upon close with turnover of 71.11
billion Taiwan dollars (about 2.14 billion US).
Mainland market shares rose 0.52 percent on Monday,
with shares of companies involved in providing transport services between the
mainland and Taiwan rose by a big margin.
Xiamen Port Development rose 7.22 percent to finish
at 7.72 yuan (1.127 U.S. dollars). Fujian Zhangzhou Development went up 4.93
percent to 3.19 yuan. Xiamen International Airport was up 3.48 percent to 13.69
yuan.
A ceremony for the start of direct sea
transport between China's mainland and southeast China's Taiwan is held at
Mawei Port of in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province,
Dec. 15, 2008. The Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct air and sea
transport and postal services Monday morning. (Xinhua/Zhang
Guojun) Photo
Gallery>>>
TAIPEI, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane
of Taiwan-based TransAsia Airways took off from Taipei Songshan Airport for
Shanghai at 8:06 a.m. on Monday, starting the direct air transport from Taiwan
to the Chinese mainland. Full story
TAIPEI, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Wu Min-yu, chairman of the
Taiwan-based Chunghwa Post Co. Ltd., sent out a letter to Liu Andong, president
of the Chinese mainland's China Post Corporation, on 9:17 a.m. (1:17 GMT),
marking the start of direct postal service between the two sides. Full story
TAIPEI, Dec. 15
(Xinhua) -- Taiwan leader Ma Ying-Jeou on Monday said direct transport and
postal services across the Taiwan Straits symbolized reconciliation between the
island and the Chinese mainland.
At a ceremony in south Taiwan's Kaosiung port, Ma
expressed the hope that the two sides could work together for common peace and
prosperity after the direct transport and postal services started. Full story
Wang Zaixi (R), vice chairman of the
Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits,
addresses the ceremony for the start of direct sea transport between
China's mainland and Taiwan, at Mawei port in Fuzhou, capital of southeast
China's Fujian Province, Dec. 15, 2008. The Chinese mainland and Taiwan
started direct air and sea transport and postal services Monday morning.
(Xinhua/Zhang Guojun) Photo
Gallery>>>
