New air routes won’t affect defense: Liu

“These ‘special’ cross-strait routes have been drawn up by the two sides to bypass air space considered sensitive by both of them, which means that Taiwan’s national defense is fully secure,” Liu said while fielding questions from lawmakers in a Legislative Yuan meeting.

Liu’s remarks came hours before representatives of Taiwan and China were to sign four cooperation accords in Taipei, including one on the expansion of cross-strait weekend charter flights which were launched in early July.

Under the new agreements, the 36 nonstop charter flights that have been plying the Taiwan- China route Friday to Monday since July will be expanded to 108 non-stop charters per week, with direct flights available every day of the week.

The number of destinations in China will also be increased to 21, up from the existing five.

Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman P.K. Chiang and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) President Chen Yunlin were expected to sign the four pacts on behalf of their respective governments.

The new airlink accord will be a boon to Taiwan’s tourism and aviation sectors, which have long wanted to see the establishment of more direct flights between the two sides, the premier said.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo also assured lawmakers that the issues of national defense and flight safety were strict pre-conditions when Taiwan agreed to sign the pact.

According to SEF Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian, the new “special cross-strait flight routes” fully take into account national security needs and they will definitely not intrude into airspace restricted by the military.

The new cross-strait routes, which will not require passing through the airspace of a third country or area, will significantly reduce flying time between the two sides,Civil Aeronautics Administration officials said.

At present, all non-stop cross Taiwan Strait charters must pass through Hong Kong Flight Information Region, which adds to the travel time between cities in central and northern China and Taiwan.

In the future, a flight between Taipei and Shanghai will take as little as 81 minutes, while a Taipei-Beijing flight will take 166 minutes — both marking a reduction of more than one hour in travel time, they said.

Meanwhile, two Taipei-based carriers, China Airlines and EVA Airways, said cross-strait charter fares could be reduced if there are more flights and the travel time is shortened.

Local tour agencies are also optimistic about the prospects of tourism from China and predicted that expanded cross-strait direct airlinks will begin to impact positively on relevant businesses in Taiwan in December.

Travel agency operators estimated that the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan will grow three to fivefold. Apart from the agreement on straighter routes between the two sides, China has also eased its restrictions on travel to Taiwan.

The minimum size of a group tour to Taiwan was lowered from 10 to five travelers and the maximum period of stay in Taiwan was increased from 10 to 15 days — a measure that many believe will pave the way for greater numbers of individual travelers from China and help create a genuine boom in Taiwan’s tourism related businesses.

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