The first officially-sanctioned trip by a Chinese boat to Taiwan-controlled territory in half a century is set to go ahead today, officials said.
The Gulangyu ferry will leave Xiamen in the southeastern province of Fujian around 9:00am, taking around 100 passengers to the small Taiwanese island of Kinmen, just a few kilometers off the mainland.
"The boat will carry more than 90 senior citizens visiting relatives on Kinmen," said a member of staff with Xiamen's semi-official Kinmen Compatriot Federation, who gave his surname as Dai.
"There will also be some medical personnel, and a number of Chinese journalists," he said.
Although it will last only four days and three nights, and the tour group is not scheduled to meet any Taiwanese officials, the trip will have potentially historic significance for relations between China and Taiwan.
Many of those who will join the trip were born on Kinmen, and went to Fujian in search of employment or because they got married there, only to be cut off from home when an iron curtain descended over the Taiwan Strait more than 50 years ago.
The Gulangyu will be the first vessel from China to participate in the "small three links" (
Taiwan sent the first two boats to make an official trip to China in nearly 52 years on Jan. 2.
While Taiwan has hailed this development as a breakthrough in tense relations, observers in China are less enthusiastic and point out that unofficial links between Fujian and the Taiwanese offshore islands have existed for decades.
Many expect the three small links to develop into broader relations as early as the end of the year.
China has criticized the three small links for not going far enough, and reiterated its long-standing position that full-blown links between Taiwan and China must be opened at an early date.
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