Taiwan faces Chinese resistance in cross-strait flight negotiations

Taiwan-China flight negotiations hit snag

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s negotiations with China on new cross-strait flights hit a snag after Beijing refused to reopen talks on scheduling and destination arrangements for the island’s airlines, a senior Taiwanese official said Wednesday.

The statement by Deputy Transportation and Communications Minister Yeh Kuang-shih underscores the difficulties President Ma Ying-jeou faces in his efforts to improve ties with China.

Taiwan and China agreed in May to increase the number of weekly cross-strait flights from 270 to 370. Fourteen new Taiwanese flights have operated since mid-June traveling between Taipei and Shanghai.

However, Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration has said China is demanding that 20 new Taiwan flights land in Xiamen and Fuzhou on the mainland, where few Taiwanese visit, and that several take off from the island at midnight.

“We signed an agreement to include 20 new flights to Xiamen and Fuzhou. We thought we can adjust existing flights to cancel them out, but we did not write that into the pact,” Yeh told The Associated Press.

He said Beijing has refused Taiwan’s request to reopen negotiations, saying it can wait until October. Yeh said Taiwan is considering canceling some new Chinese flights to Taiwan if Beijing does not respond soon.

On Tuesday, China’s Civil Affairs Administration said in a statement Beijing made it clear at the May meeting that new Taiwanese flights may suffer from poor scheduling because of limits in Chinese airport capacity.

“Taiwan should not block new Chinese flights just because it does not like the arrangements in the agreement,” the administration said.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949 and Beijing still claims the island as part of its territory.

Since Ma took office two years ago, he has significantly improved China ties and facilitated direct, regular cross-strait transportation links. But China continues to point more than 1,300 missiles at Taiwan, despite Ma’s repeated appeal for Beijing to remove the military threat against Taiwan.