Beijing yesterday confirmed a relaxation in the wording describing future sea and flight routes across the Taiwan Straits, which will now be called as "cross-Straits" routes rather than "domestic" routes.

The goodwill gesture, aimed at de-politicizing the definition of direct transport links between Taiwan and the mainland, is seen as a major effort by Beijing to push ahead with the establishment of cross-Straits trade, communications and postal services.

Vice-Premier Qian Qichen told Taipei-based United Daily News in an interview published yesterday that direct air and shipping links between the two sides could be called "cross-Straits" instead of "domestic" as previously proposed.

Analysts said the move signals Beijing's strategic change in defining the links, which has been a bone of contention between Taipei and Beijing and also a block to talks on the ''three direct links.''

Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing's new wording seems to be a more neutral statement and may help ease the politically sensitive stumbling point.

A government source in Beijing, however, told China Daily that the change in wording does not necessarily mean Beijing has backed away from its long-held and cherished one-China principle.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, local officials gave a cautious welcome to the reported move, hailing it as a goodwill gesture.

"The change is encouraging," Chiou I-jen, secretary-general of the "national security council," was quoted as saying. "But details need to be discussed by both sides."

Three major parties and communications officials on the island have also reportedly expressed their welcome.

(China Daily October 18, 2002)