An official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Friday urged the Taiwan authorities to make concrete efforts for direct cross-Straits chartered flights during the coming Spring Festival, the most important traditional festival of the Chinese people.

To fulfill the family reunion wishes of Taiwanese businessmen on the mainland and their relatives, the mainland has always supported more convenient cross-Straits transport service and would facilitate any efforts to bring about such links, said Pu Zhaozhou, director of CAAC's Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao affairs office.

Although the air companies of the mainland expressed their strong wishes to participate in cross-Straits chartered flights, they were not able to do so last Spring Festival. But they still showed their sincerity and goodwill by providing technical support for the Taiwanese airlines allowed to take chartered flights.

Pu pointed out that last year's cross-Straits chartered flights were just unilateral and indirect because of unreasonable restrictions of the Taiwan authorities. Many Taiwanese businessmen complained the indirect flights were wasting time and increasing the cost.

As the 2004 Spring Festival is to come late January, air companies of the mainland have again expressed their hopes for a fair chance to participate in the cross-Straits chartered flights.

Although the Taiwan authorities proposed some "new" suggestions, in reality the proposal is still unilateral and indirect, and the mainland air companies would still be limited in their participation in cross-Straits chartered flights, said Pu.

"We hope the Taiwan authorities will not set contrived barriers and will not impose unfeasible and unfair preconditions for the cooperation of both sides," said Pu.

During the traditional Spring Festival period early 2003, six Taiwan-based airlines ran 16 cross-Straits chartered flights between Taipei, Kaohsiung and Shanghai, bringing home Taiwanese business people on the mainland and later back to the mainland.

This was the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that Taiwanese civil airplanes flew to the Chinese mainland. However, as required by the Taiwan authorities, the flights had to stop over in Hong Kong or Macao on their way to or from Shanghai, and no airlines from the Chinese mainland were involved.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2003)