China and Taiwan reached an agreement in the Chinese territory of Macau, near Hong Kong October 15 to allow the first direct flights between the rivals in five decades. The agreement allows a total of 48 round-trip charter flights during the Chinese New Year holiday between January 29 and February 29.
Six Chinese and six Taiwanese airlines will operate the flights between the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taiwan's two biggest cities: Taipei and Kaohsiung. But flights will not fly directly across the 100-mile Taiwan Strait. They will pass through Hong Kong airspace but will not have to land there. (Source: Min Lee, AP, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan 15, 2005).