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Chen Yunlin (L), president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, exchanges signed agreements with Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman P.K. Chiang during a cross-Straits meeting signing ceremony at the Grand Hotel in Taipei November 4, 2008. [Agencies]
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TAIPEI - Top envoys from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland signed deals on daily direct flights, new cargo routes and food safety on Tuesday during Beijing's highest-level visit to the island in 60 years.
The mainland's negotiator Chen Yunlin also said he aimed to normalize financial ties with Taiwan amid the global financial crisis.
Chen and his Taiwan counterpart, P.K. Chiang, signed 13 agreements.
Their deals triple the number of direct mainland-Taiwan charter flights to a 108 per week and allow them to run daily instead of just four days out of seven. Routes will be shortened, as well, and private business jets will be allowed to fly.
The agreements also let direct cargo shipments pass between 11 Taiwan seaports and 63 in the mainland, tax free, following demands from Taiwan investors with factories on the other side.
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Chen Yunlin (left), president of the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and his island counterpart Chiang Ping-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation shake hands before their historic talks in Taipei, November 4, 2008. [chinadaily.com.cn/By Xing Zhigang]
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Direct cargo shipments were previously banned, forcing costly detours through third countries or regions. Most mainland-Taiwan flights would stop in Hong Kong or Macao.
Deals also allow 60 direct cargo flights per month, expand direct postal links to save delivery time, which is now as long as 10 days, and establish a mechanism for ensuring food safety by alerting each other to threats.
The negotiators also charted the next round of talks, which are likely to take place in the mainland in early 2009.
The early 2009 round should also focus on weathering the global financial crisis by "normalizing", "tightening" and "systematizing" cooperation, Chen said. Talks will cover banking, securities and futures markets.
Taiwan's flagging economy has more to gain from cooperation, though the mainland's GDP growth slowed sharply in the third quarter, putting the country on track for single-digit full-year growth for the first time since 2002.
"The economy is undergoing major changes," Chen said in his opening remarks on Tuesday. "It has brought us big challenges."
Negotiators will also talk next year about letting banks from each side set up branches on the other, as Taiwan negotiators said the Bank of China and Industrial and Commerce Bank of China had expressed strong interest in setting up branches on the island.
