The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Taoyuan

China and Taiwan resumed regular direct flights Friday for the first time in six decades, ushering in what Beijing called a "new start" in their tense and testy relations.

In the most visible sign yet of a new openness toward the mainland under new Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, the two sides-which split in 1949 after a civil war-welcomed passenger flights directly from each other's territory. "This is a sacred moment," said Liu Shaoyong, the chairman of China Southern Airlines, who piloted the first flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to Taiwan himself.

"Flying over the strait to Taiwan is like coming home," he told a crowd of well-wishers at the airport welcoming ceremony. "It feels good."

The 100 Chinese tourists aboard got the red-carpet treatment on arrival, including jets of water shooting over the plane, to symbolise the cleaning of dusty travellers, as well as a traditional Chinese "lion dance".

"We were lucky to be on the plane," said Wang Yu, a businessman from Zhuhai in southern China. "Many people were fighting for seats on the inaugural flight."

Ties between Taiwan and China have always been better than the public hostility from the two sides has acknowledged, and trade between them last year was more than 100 billion dollars.

But officially, China sees Taiwan as its territory waiting to be reclaimed by force if needed-and the Strait, heavily armed on both sides, has long been one of the world's most dangerous potential military flashpoints.