Beijing’s decision to
resume direct flights to Taiwan, alongside nine other measures to deepen cross-strait exchanges and ties, shows the value of dialogue. These steps, announced immediately after Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s recent six-day visit, including a meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, are a reminder that trust and cooperation are more likely to result in improvement to fraught relations, while confrontation leads only to stagnation.
The measures go beyond symbolic gestures. Opening the mainland Chinese market to some Taiwanese agricultural products, admitting film and television works, and
easing restrictions on individual travel are positive moves for economic, cultural and social ties. They are a reminder that reunification under the one-China principle is not a threat but a pathway to shared prosperity and stability.
In the
meeting with Xi – the first between leaders of the Communist Party and the KMT in nearly a decade – both highlighted the need for cross-strait peace after years of rising tensions under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Xi’s assurances of
respect for Taiwan’s unique lifestyle and system, coupled with a pledge to allow Taiwanese residents to share in the mainland’s economic development, show that mutual respect and dialogue can safeguard the island’s identity while opening doors to opportunity.
Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office said it would restore passenger flights connecting a number of mainland cities – including Xian, Harbin, Kunming, Lanzhou and Urumqi – to Taiwan as soon as possible. The 10-point plan, which did not include any timelines, also contained proposals to allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian province to visit Taiwan island as individual tourists.
Direct flights do more than shorten travel time; they symbolically bridge the physical divide. Agricultural exports strengthen livelihoods, while cultural exchange through film and television fosters mutual understanding. Each measure builds interdependence, countering the politics of isolation with the logic of integration.
