Three Links - History - Further Liberalization

Further Liberalization

In the lead-up to the 2008 presidential elections in Taiwan, the Kuomintang candidate, Ma Ying-jeou, pledged opening the Three Links at an accelerated rate should he be elected president. The ruling DPP has traditionally been reluctant to implement this, citing the PRC's refusal to negotiate unless the Taiwanese counterparty accepts the one-China principle under the 1992 consensus. In June 2007, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh criticised Ma's plans as a reflection of his lack of experience in handling cross-strait affairs. He also stressed that while the direct links may benefit Taiwan economically, Taiwan's values must not be compromised as a result.

On 29 February 2008, Ma announced plans to commence weekend charter flights by 1 July 2008, which will be expanded to daily charters by the end of the year. Regular scheduled flights may commence by June 2009. The airports of Taoyuan, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taitung, and Penghu will be open for these cross-strait flights, while the seaports of Keelung, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Chiayi, and Tainan will be open to direct shipping routes. All restrictions limiting the scope of the "mini three links" will be lifted, including allowing all Taiwanese to use them. Hsieh responded by promising to expand cross-strait charter flights within three months after taking office, including increased flight frequencies and the addition of destinations on the Chinese which may be flown to. Both liberalisation plans were greeted by enthusiasm amongst Taiwanese airlines.

Formal agreements to launch regular weekend charter flights were signed on 13 June 2008, allowing for an initial 36 return flights per weekend from Friday to Monday, divided equally to allow 18 return flights amongst up to six China-based and six Taiwan-based airlines respectively. The agreement will involve five airports from China, including those in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing, and eight airports in Taiwan, namely Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, Kaohsiung International Airport, Taichung Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport, Makung Airport, Hualien Airport, Kinmen Airport and Taitung Airport. Flights to China cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guilin and Shenzhen may be added later. The first flights are scheduled to commence on 4 July 2008, and flight frequencies may be increased on demand, with expectations to increase to 72 each weekend after the 2008 Olympic Games. For the first time, the flights will be open to anyone holding valid travel documents, and will no longer be restricted to Chinese and Taiwanese residents only, and no longer required to fly through the Hong Kong FIR. There are also frequency caps on certain sectors: flights from Shanghai to Taiwan are capped at nine return trips each week, while those from China to Taichung must not exceed six return flights each week. There will be no restrictions out of Nanjing.

On 17 June 2008, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that the 18 return flights available to Chinese airlines will be apportioned such that Air China and Hainan Airlines will fly to Taiwan from Beijing with four return flights and two return flights respectively; China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines will fly from Shanghai to Taiwan with four return flights and two return flights respectively; China Southern Airlines fly depart for Taiwan from Guangzhou for four return flights per week, and Xiamen Airlines will connect Xiamen with Taiwan with two weekly return flights.

Allocation amongst Taiwanese carriers was adjusted from six airlines to five after the suspension of Far Eastern Air Transport. A rotating allocation system was adopted, whereby in the first week, Mandarin Airlines, TransAsia Airways and UNI Air would fly four return flights each and China Airlines and EVA Airways will fly three flights each, and in the second week, four flights will be operated by TransAsia Airways, UNI Air and China Airlines, while EVA Airways and Mandarin Airlines will fly three flights. The rights will be rotated through in subsequent weeks such that each airline will fly in aggregate the same number of flights every five weeks. On the Taiwan-Shanghai route, three airlines will be allocated two roundtrip flights each week, and another airline one weekly flight, to be cycled through the five airlines. China Airlines and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines would fly seven round-trips a week, with four to Shanghai, two to Beijing and one to Guangzhou from Kaohsiung, Makung, Taichung and Taipei. Eva Air and subsidiary UNI Air would fly from Taiwan Taoyuan, Songshan and Kaohsiung to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, while TransAsia Airways will operate from Songshan to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen. China Airlines and its Mandarin Airlines subsidiary would offer 29 return flights in the month of July to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen, while Eva Air would offer 7 flights per week initially from Taiwan Taoyuan and Songshan airports.

Announced routes so far are as follows:

Negotiators are expected to meet again in Taiwan to tackle outstanding issues, including revisiting the issue of introducing cross-strait charter cargo flights within three months, the introduction of direct flight routes without the need to fly via Hong Kong airspace and subsequent addition of destinations and frequencies.

On 19 June 2008, the "Little Three Links" between the islands of Kinmen and Matsu and Fujian was greatly liberalised, allowing any Taiwanese to use the ferry services by travelling to either island on their onward journey into Fujian province and beyond. In response, several Taiwanese airlines increased flights to Kinmen, including Mandarin Airlines (increased Taipei-Kinmen flights), Trans Asia Airways (an additional weekly Taipei-Kinmen flight) and UNI Airways Corporation (increase Taipei-Kinmen flights by one or two each week, for a total of 24 weekly flights). Still, the sudden surge in travellers caused flights to become overbooked in the immediately aftermath of liberalization. There were calls for further relaxation on travel restrictions of Chinese travelling into the islands so as to enable them to also travel onwards to the main island. Work was also needed to correct the current trade and movement imbalance, where 300,000 Taiwanese travel via the route to reach China, compared to 37,000 Chinese who travel in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the volume of Chinese goods using the route was significantly higher compared to Taiwanese goods. The MAC chairman Lai Hsin-yuan remarked that the Straits Exchange Foundation will negotiate with Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits to allow the Chinese to travel to Taiwan via the route, and to lift a US$100,000 trade value ceiling imposed by the Chinese on Taiwanese goods using the route.