More than half of Taiwan's "parliament" members have petitioned the local authorities to allow Taiwan airlines to run charter flights to Chinese mainland as a step toward lifting the half-century ban on direct air links across the Taiwan Straits.

Taiwan people now have to travel to the mainland through a third airport, usually Hong Kong, adding extra time and expense.

In the petition to Chen Shuibian's so-called "Cabinet", the 121 lawmakers suggested that charter flights be allowed between Taipei and Shanghai at the end of next January, when about 300 thousand Taiwan people working in the mainland are expected to return home for the Chinese New Year.

In recent years, the economic, trade and cultural contacts between Taiwan and Tianjin have expanded rapidly. Many Taiwan merchants begin noticing the impact on their businesses of trade, transport, and mail links.

The Taiwan businessmen are calling for an early realization of the three direct links, according to a report by CCTV, China's central television station.

Shanghai now has more than 4,000 enterprises with investments from Taiwan businessmen, amounting to a contracted value of 7 billion US dollars.

In the first eight months of this year, the city saw 800,000 exits and entries made by Taiwan residents, up 20 percent from the same period of last year, and a total of 200,000 items of mail crossing to Shanghai.

While Taiwan businessmen feel at home in Shanghai, the only thing that bothers them is the hindered communication across the Straits.

Ye Huide, a Taiwan businessman said: " Last year, 3.3 million entries were made by Taiwan residents coming to the mainland for business or sightseeing. If direct transport were possible, every person would have saved 10,000 Taiwan dollars each. That amounts to 33 billion Taiwan dollars."

For the investors, time is money. If direct flight was possible, it would take one hour to fly from Taiwan to Shanghai, instead of 4 hours via Hong Kong.

He also said: "With direct transport, it takes only 3 days for cargo to arrive, instead of the present 8. I have suffered great loss in cost and time because I have to rent warehouses to store the goods for a longer period of time."

Taiwan business people in Tianjin have also expressed their hope to have the three direct links realized between Taiwan and the mainland. Tianjin, a northern city, is one of the four municipalities directly under the Chinese central government.

In recent years, the economic, trade and cultural contacts between Taiwan and Tianjin have expanded rapidly. Many Taiwan merchants begin noticing the impact on their businesses of trade, transport, and mail links.

This Taiwan compatriot says that around 1,500 Taiwan merchants have launched their businesses in Tianjin with a total investment of 3 billion US dollars. Without direct links, he says, problems such as slow circulation of money blocks their operation.

It is estimated that around 15,000 Taiwan business people commute between Taiwan and Tianjin every year. The realization of direct links will greatly facilitate their business activities in the mainland.

The President of the Taiwan Merchant Development Council, Zhang Xiaoyan, has come up with his own scheme to implement direct air links between Taiwan and the mainland, according to a report by CCTV, Chinese central Television station.

He plans to charter a Taiwanese plane to take Taiwan businessmen operating in the mainland home for Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. Zhang says this will also be an opportunity to test how sincere the Taiwan authorities are about implementing the "three direct links."

Zhang plans to carry out his scheme during the 2003 Chinese spring festival. He explained how he was going to go about his plan. First, an unspecified Taiwan airline company will offer a chartered airplane. The plane will then fly directly from Taiwan to Shanghai, where it will pick up Taiwan businessmen and take them back home to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Speaking from experience, Zhang said that technically, it is a workable plan. "It'll be much safer to help Taiwan businessmen return to Taiwan during the spring festival period with chartered airplanes. It won't involve any negotiations on navigating rights before we can carry out the plan."

However, not everyone believes it's going to be this easy. The mainland will help Taiwan civil airplanes fly into the mainland's air zone, but the Taiwan authorities say Taiwan's airplanes will have to make a detour when flying to the mainland.

Zhang said, "It takes time to free the Taiwan authorities of apprehensions. As a matter of fact, a certain number of security experts don't take this as a reasonable excuse at all."

Zhang also stressed that this will be a very humane scheme because indirect air links mean only half of the 300,000 or so Taiwan businessmen working on the mainland can fly back to Taiwan during the spring festival. He also said more than 120 figures from various political parties and groups are backing the plan. Zhang will discuss his scheme in Beijing next month.

( October 29, 2002)