A Taiwan opposition party leader said here Thursday that Taiwan and the Chinese mainland may try a pilot direct flight between Taipei and Shanghai which will serve to accelerate the direct flight service across the Taiwan Straits.
"The first problem to solve in the cooperation process between the two sides is to make cross-Straits communications convenient if they want to carry out exchange smoothly," said James Soong, chairman of the People First Party (PFP) at an ongoing forum of elites from across the Taiwan Straits.
The two cities have reaped successful experiences from the charter flights of Taiwanese business people during last Spring Festival, he said.
"In the future, a pilot direct flight could be introduced to promote direct flight across the strait," said Soong, adding that direct flight has long been an issue widely concerned by various circles from the two sides.
He said the people from the two cities share similar geographic position and living standard and the passenger and goods flow between them are already very large in scale.
"It's of obvious necessity to promote a direct flight between the two cities," he said.
According to Soong, the inter-city direct flight could benefit more than 500,000 Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai. "The two sides should be promote the direct flight across the Straits with acts." he said.
