Taiwan, China agree to direct air links

Taiwanese and Chinese officials reached a deal Saturday to allow non-stop charter flights between their countries over the Chinese New Year holidays.

The flights are intended for Taiwanese businessmen working in China. These will be the first direct flights between China and Taiwan since 1949.

Taiwan has been under pressure from the United States to seek reconciliation with China, which considers the island a renegade province.

Although the 48 round-trip flights will be non-stop, they will still have to go through Hong Kong or Macau airspace.

But the arrangement will cut up to four hours from what should be an hour-long flight by avoiding a stopover to change planes.

The flights will begin on Jan. 29 and end on Feb. 20, said Pu Zhaozhou, head of China's Civil Aviation Association.

Planes will fly between the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taiwan's two biggest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, Pu said.

Taiwan had banned the flights because of concerns over security.