Warming China ties prompt hot air balloon trip

The flight across the Taiwan Strait is scheduled for July or August next year, Xinhua news agency said, citing the mainland Chinese involved.

“Warming cross-strait relations make the flight possible,” the report quoted Du Jin’en, of the mainland’s Aero Sports Federation, as saying.

It will be first hot air balloon flight across the 135-kilometer-wide (83-mile) strait, and is expected to take between three and seven hours depending on wind conditions, Xinhua said.

China views Taiwan as a rebel province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. The two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

Relations between the two sides began to relax after China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became president of Taiwan in May.

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