SHANGHAI, Dec 15: China and Taiwan launched direct daily flights, postal and shipping services on Monday in a historic move hailed by both sides as cementing a new era in warm ties between the long-time rivals.

The direct links ended the tedious and costly delays of having to go via a third party’s air space or territorial waters, while also providing one of the most tangible benefits of a dramatic rapprochement this year.

“From now on, dialogue will replace opposition,” Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the launch of a direct shipping service to China from the southern Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung.

“The two sides can work together for peace and prosperity.” Ma’s election as Taiwan’s president in March, ending eight years of rule by the independence-minded Chen Shui-bian, triggered the warming of ties between China and Taiwan, which split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

The mood among mainland Chinese officials on Monday was equally upbeat.

“Today is another important day in the history of cross-strait relations,” said Wang Yi, the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, at a shipping ceremony in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin.

“The trend of peaceful development for the relationship between two sides cannot be stopped. Today the prospects of peaceful development are brighter.” The first flight from the mainland left the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for Taipei on Monday morning, followed shortly after by a commercial service from the Taiwanese capital to Shanghai.

At least 12 airlines from the two sides are expected to fly more than 100 flights a week, providing links between four Taiwanese and 12 Chinese cities.—AFP