The government is considering expanding the cross-strait charter flights program for the Lunar New Year holiday, officials said yesterday.
The government is optimistic that the cross-strait charter flights for the holiday will take place without difficulty, as long as the Chinese side is willing to negotiate with Taiwan in line with the spirit of the "Macau Model," said Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman David Huang (
The "Macau Model" means the setting aside of disputes, no preconditions, mutual respect, acting pragmatically, the government taking initiative and the private sector providing assistance, he said.
Lunar New Year charter flights took place in 2003 and this year to allow Taiwanese businesspeople and their families in China to return home to spend the holidays with with their friends and relatives.
The negotiations for this year's charter flights were completed in Macau, where the framework for the 2003 flights moved one step forward by allowing Chinese carriers to participate, and the requirement for a transit stop in Hong Kong or Macau was dropped.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
"We hope that the negotiations for the upcoming Lunar New Year charter flights can be based on previous experience," Huang said.
Huang said that the government is now considering how to respond to a request from Pu Zhaozhou (
Pu sent a letter to the council on Tuesday expressing China's willingness to have talks on the issue.
As for whether next year's holiday flights will be expanded to include tourists and students, Huang said that the details could only be finalized during cross-strait negotiations.
MORE DESTINATIONS?
Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
The expansion proposal was initially reported by a local Chinese-language newspaper, which cited Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
Taiwanese students and tourists would also be allowed to take the charter flights, the paper said.
DETAILS, DETAILS
Wu said he was optimistic that talks between CAAC and the Taipei Airlines Association would result in an agreement to renew the charter flights next year, but he cautioned that final details were still to be worked out.
``Based on our experience, we believe that negotiating about direct charter flights again for the next Lunar New Year should not be a problem,'' he said.
Wu said the visit by Shao Qiwei (
CHINESE TOURISM
Shao is visiting Taiwan at the head of a delegation of tourism and business officials.
Earlier this year, China dusted off a proposal to raise the number of tourists visiting Taiwan to 360,000 a year -- more than 10 times the current level.
At the time, the government spurned the offer, saying that it needed further study. Since then, however, the government has come under heavy pressure from the tourism industry, which views the Chinese market as a key element in its future growth.
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