Taiwan, China to increase weekly flights to 500

Jun 8, 2011, 13:23 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan and China agreed on Wednesday to increase the number of weekly cross-Taiwan Strait flights to 550, from 370, as part of a series of agreements signed by the two sides.

At a meeting in Taipei, negotiators reviewed six cooperation pacts signed since Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, said officials of Straits Exchange Foundation, a semi-official agency in Taiwan that handles relations with China in the absence of formal ties.

'Our two sides have agreed to increase the number of cross-strait weekly flights to 550 from 370 in a bid to meet the growing needs,' said Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman of the foundation.

He said two new flight destinations - Tainan in southern Taiwan and Jiangsu in southeastern China - will be added to the existing routes under the aviation pact signed three years ago.

Taiwan agreed to open its door to individual Chinese tourists before the end of this month, and both countries agreed to reduce air fares, foundation officials said.

In the area of judicial cooperation, Beijing said it would repatriate 14 Taiwan telephone scam suspects who were sent to China by the Philippines.

Philippine police arrested them in late 2010 and deported them to China in March, triggering a diplomatic row between Taipei and Manila as Taiwan insisted they should be repatriated to the island, not China.

Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, but ties have warmed since Ma took office in 2008. Taipei and Beijing have held six rounds of high-level talks and signed 14 trade and business agreements.

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