Taiwan said it was optimistic about striking a deal with China on Saturday on landmark direct flights over the Lunar New Year holiday, seeing the move as a precursor to better ties between the political rivals.
The one off, non-stop charters would be the first direct flights between China and Taiwan since 1949, and could be a step towards ending a decades-old ban on direct air links.
"The talks will be a crucial step to genuine interaction between the two sides," Chiu Tai-san, vice chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, told a news conference on Friday.
"Both sides have the willingness and consensus to push through the charter flights," he said, noting they were in agreement on the broad plan but must work out technical details.
Aviation executives authorized by the council, which formulates Taiwan policy towards China, will begin talks with Chinese counterparts at 2 p.m. (0600 GMT) in Macau on Saturday to iron out the details of the proposed flights in February.
If implemented, the charters would mark the first time a Chinese commercial aircraft had landed on Taiwan soil, with the exception of hijackings, in more than five decades.
Taiwan has prohibited direct transport links with China since the Chinese Nationalist government lost a civil war on the mainland to Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island.
The two sides have been at loggerheads since, with China claiming sovereignty over Taiwan and threatening to invade the self-governing, democratic island if it declares statehood.
Beijing refuses to deal with the government of pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian, convinced that he aims to lead his island towards a formal split.
With tensions simmering amid China's plan to adopt an anti-secession law aimed at stopping Taiwan independence, a deal could indicate a thawing in the bitter animosity.
"If things go smoothly, the Lunar New Year charter flights will not be just an individual case but can form a good basis for future interaction, and economic and trade exchanges across the Strait," Chiu said.
Despite often charged political tensions, trade, investment and tourism across the narrow Taiwan Strait have boomed with Taiwan investors pouring an estimated USD$100 billion into China.
About one million Taiwan nationals live on the mainland and have to fly home via a third destination, usually Hong Kong or Macau, adding 4 hours to what should be an hour long flight.
China proposed on Wednesday that the charters fly to and from the mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen and Taiwan's Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung.
During the 2003 Lunar New Year break, charters between Shanghai and Taipei were commissioned to Taiwan airlines, which could not fly direct and had to make stops in Hong Kong or Macau.
Taiwan will send Billy Chang, head of its Civil Aeronautics Administration, to talk to Pu Zhaozhou, executive director of China's Civil Aviation Association, in Macau.
