China and Taiwan Monday opened reciprocal air, sea transport and postal services, establishing the first such direct links in nearly 60 years. Prior to Monday, the services were being rerouted through a third stop because of strained relations between the mainland and the island nation, which the communist country has always claimed as its territory, UPI reported. The air link began after a China Eastern Airlines passenger flight took off from Shanghai for Taipei, Taiwan, on an 80-minute flight. It took 140 minutes previously, going through Hong Kong, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Shortly after that flight, a TransAsia Airways flight left Taipei for Shanghai. The direct links were made possible under a historic agreement the two countries signed in November. The number of passenger flights will increase to 108 every week between the two countries. China and Taiwan also started their direct shipping and postal services Monday across the Taiwan Straits. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who came to power in May after campaigning for improving trade ties with China, traveled to the southern port city of Kaohsiung to inaugurate the cross-Strait shipping link, the Central News Agency reported. The opening of the direct links is expected to boost bilateral trade significantly. China and Taiwan have had separate governments for the past six decades but the communist country has never relinquished its sovereign claims over Taiwan.
