By Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Historic regular flights between Taiwanand China began on Friday, in a show of conciliation betweenthe long-time rivals that could draw millions of Chinesevisitors to the island.
The first of the flights, a China Southern Airlines plane,landed at Taipei's Taoyuan airport after leaving Guangzhou insouthern China early in the morning.
No such regular flights, aside from a few charters onselect holidays, have flown since 1949, when defeatedNationalist forces fled to Taiwan after the Chinese civil war.
China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and hasvowed to bring the island under its rule, by force ifnecessary. But with Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou andBeijing seeking to ease tensions and expand economic flows, thefirst batch of tourists has become a symbol for broader hopes.
"The advantages of mainland tourist visits to Taiwan arenot only stimulus for related industries, job opportunities forcitizens and other tangible interests. It's also for mutualpeace, a deepening of exchanges, elevating our internationalimage and other non-tangible points," Taiwan Premier LiuChao-shiuan said on Thursday.
Negotiators from China and Taiwan agreed last month to the"weekend" flights. They also decided to let as many as 3,000Chinese tourists a day visit the island, which has viewed themas a security risk but now wants their money.
Although the routes are dubbed weekend charters, they runFriday through Monday.
The 36 round trips per week will eliminate time-consumingHong Kong or Macau stopovers for Taiwanese, about one millionof whom live on the mainland. But they will continue to fly aroundabout route through Hong Kong air space for securityreasons.
The first flight from Guangzhou had 258 passengers,including over 100 tourists from the mainland, Xinhua reported.
In total, around 600 Chinese people, including China's toptourism official and 32 other government leaders, are expectedto board the Friday flights, the island's government and mediasay.
Twelve airlines, eight Taiwan airports and numerous travelagents have scrambled over the past month to prepare forFriday's flights, which ply between Taiwan and the Chinesecities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
"The ever more frequent and convenient flights across theStraits ... are also an emotional and cultural bridge for thepeople," a Chinese aviation official told Xinhua. The reportdid not give the official's name.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May onpledges to revitalise the island's economy with closer tradeand transit ties to China, has estimated that 50 millionChinese want to visit hard-to-reach Taiwan.
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing; editingby Valerie Lee)
