Beijing on Friday expressed its welcome to the consensus reached by the civil aviation associations across the Taiwan Straits on the arrangement of the charter flights during the upcoming Spring Festival in 2006.

The consensus was reached earlier Friday, based on the successful operation between the two sides last year.

"It will facilitate the shuttle trips of Taiwan compatriots," said He Shizhong, an official of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a press conference here.

Although progress has been made in passenger and flight arrangement, the program still cannot fully satisfy the need of the compatriots on both sides of the Straits, nor realize the direct flights, He said.

The cross-Straits charter flights during the 2006 Spring Festival include a total of 72 round trips. Mainland airlines and Taiwan airlines will take 36-round flights respectively.

Mainland citizens who hold legitimate and effective certification, however, are not included in the program," he said, adding that the planes have to make a detour via Hong Kong.

"It's not the real meaning of direct flights," he said.

To realize the full, direct and bidirectional links of ship, flight, mail and communication across the Taiwan Straits conforms to the common desire and fundamental interests of the compatriots of the two sides across the Taiwan Straits and reflects the general trend of the cross-straits development, especially since the arrangement of charter flights in 2003 and 2005, he said.

Beijing suggested in 2005 to expand the charter flights to that on weekends and other holidays or regular flights from only during Spring Festival, and to involve cargo planes in the program.

"I'm sorry that Taiwan didn't adopt our advice thoroughly," He said, adding: "We hope that the Taiwan authorities will take visible actions to respect the public opinion."

Source: Xinhua