Taiwan, China Agree To Set Direct Flights
Taiwan and China reached a landmark but limited pact for the first scheduled, nonstop flights between the two rivals in more than 50 years.
The charter flights, which were agreed to Saturday and will take place around the Lunar New Year holiday early next month, mark another advance in the expansion of commercial exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. But the deal's effectiveness in improving the long political stalemate between Taiwan and China is likely to be limited, analysts said.
"I think it's a good start, but we probably shouldn't read too much into it, because there're still a lot of political problems between the two sides," says Emile Sheng , a political-science professor at Soochow University in Taipei.
Taiwan has banned direct flights and shipping to China since the two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and talks on reopening links have long been stymied by more fundamental disputes. Taiwan businesses have poured tens of billions of dollars into China despite the political problems, and Taiwan company executives and personnel make several million trips across the strait every year. But the journey currently requires transit through Hong Kong or another third destination, which executives say wastes time and money.
The latest agreement expands on similar charter flights in 2003 that also occurred during the Lunar New Year, when many Taiwan businesspeople return from the mainland for the island's most important holiday. But the 2003 flights were limited to Taiwan's airlines and required a landing in Hong Kong or Macau. In 2004, the two sides couldn't muster the political will to agree on similar flights. This year's deal allows airlines from both sides to take part and won't require stopovers, although planes still must fly through Hong Kong airspace.
Beijing claims self-governed, democratic Taiwan as part of Chinese territory. It has consistently refused to deal directly with the island's government, which it believes aims to formalize Taiwan's independence, something China has said it would use military force to stop.
Saturday's agreement, hashed out in brief talks in Macau, followed months of political maneuvering that underscored how estranged the two sides are. But the deal also demonstrated a willingness to compromise not displayed by the two sides in years, and some analysts and officials said the negotiations could set a model for talks on regular direct air links. Key to the success of the talks was the fact that, to get around the difficulties of government-to-government talks, both sides let aviation administrators work out the agreement under the rubric of industry associations.
Saturday's deal allows for 48 flights, running from Jan. 29 to Feb. 20, between Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan and the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. As many as six airlines on each side will take part.
The deal "creates a foundation for mutual trust," and shows that both sides can "set aside their differences," said Joseph Wu, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's agency for China policy.
Still, deep divisions remain. In a sign of Beijing's continuing wariness toward Taipei, the Chinese state-controlled media treated the agreement in a low-key fashion, and Chinese foreign-policy experts gave cautious assessments. "This could be a breakthrough," said Gu Guoliang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. But "for it to become one, both sides, especially Taiwan, are going to have to go much further in the direction of compromise."
It isn't clear that such compromise is in the offing. Chinese scholars say Beijing isn't likely to relax the relatively hard line it has maintained toward Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian. A proposed law against secession introduced in China's legislature last month, and almost certain to be adopted in March, is intended to keep the heat on Mr. Chen and dissuade him from revising Taiwan's constitution -- an uncrossable line for Beijing. Taiwan officials have contended that the law is an effort to fashion a legal pretext for a Chinese invasion of the island, and also could be used to justify the arrest of Taiwan citizens in China who support independence for the island.
President Chen, meanwhile, has said he wants to press ahead with revising Taiwan's Constitution, originally adopted by the authoritarian Kuomintang while the party still ran the government in China in 1946, and which Mr. Chen and others say no longer suits Taiwan's current democracy. The Kuomintang is now the major opposition party in Taiwan.
Yesterday, Mr. Chen continued to use language that highlights the gulf between the Taiwan and Chinese positions, telling members of his Democratic Progressive Party that he aims to continue promoting a separate identity for Taiwan. Repeating an increasingly common refrain, Mr. Chen said the effort was necessary "to make Taiwan a normal, complete, progressive, beautiful, and great country," Taiwan's government-funded Central News Agency reported.
台湾和中国大陆达成春节包机直航协议
台湾与中国大陆达成了一项具有里程碑意义的协议，海峡两岸间半个多世纪来将首次开通不中停的预定航班。
上周六签署的这项协议同意，下月农历新年假期前后中国大陆和台湾间将开行客运包机，这是海峡两岸间商业交往方面的又一进展。但分析人士认为，这项协议对改善台湾和大陆间的长期政治僵局作用或许很有限。
台湾东吴大学(Soochow University)政治学教授盛治仁(Emile Sheng)认为，这是一个良好的开端，但不应夸大其积极意义，海峡两岸间仍有许多政治问题有待解决。
自从台湾和中国大陆1949年因内战而相互分离以来，台湾一直禁止与中国大陆进行空中和海上的直航，而双方有关重开直航的谈判也一直因更基本的分歧而搁置。尽管存在诸多政治不和，但台湾企业还是在大陆投资了数百亿美元，每年往返两岸的台湾企业界人士和普通民众达数百万人次。但他们的行程目前都需经停香港或其他第三地，台湾企业的管理人士抱怨说，这既耗时又费钱。
这项最新签署的协议较2003年时的春节包机协议又进了一步。当时为方便众多从中国大陆返回台湾过春节的台湾商人，海峡两岸首次在农历新年期间开通了客运包机。但2003年时包机承运方只限于台湾的航空公司，并且包机还须中途经停香港和澳门。2004年，海峡两岸都缺乏签署类似包机协议的政治意愿。今年的协议允许海峡两岸的航空公司参与包机飞行，并且也不再要求包机中途停经第三地，不过飞机仍需飞经香港空管区。
上周六达成的协议是海峡两岸代表在澳门经过短暂商谈后达成的，在此之前双方已经过了数月的政治角力，从中可以看出双方隔阂之深。但协议的最终达成也显示了双方多年来少有的妥协意愿。一些分析人士和官员们说，此次谈判可以成为海峡两岸商谈开通定期直航时可遵循的模式。此次谈判取得成功的关键是，为了避免政府间谈判产生的难题，双方都由航空管理当局出面，以行业协会的名义达成了协议。
台湾负责大陆事务的陆委会(Mainland Affairs Council)主任吴钊燮(Joseph Wu)说，这一协议创造了互信的基础，它显示双方可以搁置彼此的分歧。
不过双方的鸿沟依然存在。北京对台北当局继续持谨慎态度，这从大陆官方媒体报导这一协议时的低调态度上就可看出。而大陆的外交政策专家在评价这一协议时也持谨慎态度。中国社会科学院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)的顾国良说，这可能是一项突破，但要真地实现突破，海峡两岸，特别是台湾方面，还需要在作出妥协方面大大迈进。
尚不清楚作出妥协的意愿是否存在。大陆学者称，北京不大可能放松它对台湾总统陈水扁所持的相对强硬的立场。上个月，大陆一项反分裂法草案已提交最高立法机构，且几乎肯定会在今年3月获得通过，该法案旨在保持对陈水扁的压力，使其放弃修改台湾宪法的念头，而台湾修宪被北京视为不可逾越的底线。台湾官员一直声称，台湾现行宪法使得中国大陆入侵台湾有了合法的借口，也使大陆逮捕那些在大陆的支持台独的台湾公民有了合法依据。
台湾总统陈水扁一直声称，他希望推进台湾的修宪进程，台湾的现行宪法是国民党政府1946年尚在统治大陆时制定的，陈水扁等人称这部宪法与台湾目前的民主政治已不相适应。国民党是台湾目前的主要反对党。
陈水扁昨天仍在使用彰显台湾和大陆在政治立场方面巨大差异的措辞。据台湾中央社(Central News Agency)报导，陈水扁对一批民进党(Democratic Progressive Party)成员说，他的目标依然是继续推动台湾独立。陈水扁重申，要坚持让台湾成为一个“正常、完整、进步、美丽而伟大的国家”。
根据上周六达成的协议，1月29日至2月20日期间，在台湾的台北和高雄与中国大陆的北京、上海和广州间将开行48个航班。海峡两岸将各有6家航空公司参与运营。
