Trade between the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan Straitjacketed

Indirect transport between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan has caused huge economic losses to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, a mainland official said on Saturday.

Realizing direct marine links would serve the fundamental interests of people on both sides of the strait, Li Jiansheng, a Ministry of Communications official, told a cross-strait common market forum in Nanning.

The mainland's economic development has given Taiwan numerous opportunities, but people have to "seek far and wide for what lies close at hand" and suffer economic losses because a direct transport link has not been achieved - a result of "human factors," Li said.

It is 165 nautical miles from the mainland's Xiamen port to the Kaohsiung port in Taiwan, a distance that could be traveled by ship in six to eight hours, according to Li.

But vessels now have to make a detour for mainland-Taiwan transport. A vessel from Shanghai to Kaohsiung would need to sail only 600 nautical miles if the direct link is realized, compared with the current 935 nautical miles via Japan, Li said.

The detour costs an additional day and more than US$20,000 per each vessel, the official aid.

"A direct sea link would greatly reduce the cost of trade exchanges and offer huge commercial opportunities," Li said.

Non-stop charter flights across the Taiwan Strait were launched beginning with the Lunar New Year in 2005. Prior to that, there had been no direct air links across the Taiwan Strait for more than five decades. Charter flights are available only during major festivals, however, though the mainland hopes to establish more regular service.