Top officials from Taiwan and China signed deals on daily direct flights, new cargo routes and food safety today during Beijing's highest-level visit to its political rival in 60 years.
China negotiator Chen Yunlin also said he aimed to normalise financial ties with Taiwan amid the global financial crisis, despite protests from Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which favours putting distance between the island and China.
Communist China has claimed sovereignty over democratic Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.
Mr Chen and his Taiwan counterpart, P.K. Chiang, signed 13 agreements, putting aside old security and sovereignty concerns.
Their deals triple the number of direct China-Taiwan charter flights to a 108 per week and allow them to run daily instead of just four days out of seven. Routes will be shortened, as well, and private business jets will be allowed to fly.
The agreements also let direct cargo shipments pass between 11 Taiwan seaports and 63 in China, tax free, following demands from Taiwan investors with factories on the other side.
Direct cargo shipments were previously banned due to sovereignty issues involving vessel flags and crew nationalities, forcing costly detours through third countries or regions. Most China-Taiwan flights would stop in Hong Kong or Macau.
Deals also allow 60 direct cargo flights per month, expand direct postal links to save delivery time, which is now as long as 10 days, and establish a mechanism for ensuring food safety by alerting each other to threats.
The Taiwan stock market's transport sub-index climbed by more than 2 per cent on the news.
Ties have warmed rapidly since China-friendly Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou took office in May, paving the way for mid-June talks in Beijing, the first in about a decade.
Mr Ma is walking a fence between helping Taiwan's economy by tying it more to the booming markets in China and appealing to voters at home by keeping a political distance from Beijing.
But thousands of demonstrators led by the DPP spent a night on the streets of central Taipei, using loudspeakers, banners and ribbons to condemn China and accuse Mr Ma of selling out.
The negotiators also charted the next round of talks, which are likely to take place in China in early 2009.
Joint criminal law enforcement, legal protection for Taiwan investors in China and more food safety cooperation in light of the tainted milk powder scandal that has shaken Beijing should make the agenda, Taiwan's negotiator said.
The early 2009 round should also focus on weathering the global financial crisis by "normalising", "tightening" and "systematising" cooperation, Mr Chen said. Talks will cover banking, securities and futures markets.
Negotiators will also talk next year about letting banks from each side set up branches on the other, as Taiwan negotiators said the Bank of China and Industrial and Commerce Bank of China had expressed strong interest in setting up branches on the island.
Reuters