Three Links

The Three Links or Three Linkages (Chinese: 三通; pinyin: sān tōng) was a 1979 proposal from the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to open up postal (simplified Chinese: 通邮; traditional Chinese: 通郵; pinyin: tōng yóu), transportation (especially airline) (通航; tōng háng), and trade (通商; tōng shāng) links between Mainland China and Taiwan,^[1] with the goal of unifying Mainland China and Taiwan.^[2]

Before the establishment of the "Three Links", communication between the two sides were routed through intermediate destinations, primarily Hong Kong; Macau; Jeju, South Korea and Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The "Three Links" were officially established on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct flights, shipping and post.

History

Proposal

In December 1978, after

In early 2002 a China Airlines flight to Hong Kong crashed into the Taiwan strait killing all 225 people on board. The majority of the passengers were intending to transfer at Hong Kong for flights to mainland China. Relatives of the victims advocated for direct cross-strait flights.^[11]

In early 2003, the Republic of China (ROC) government permitted its air carriers to ferry Chinese New Year passengers back and forth across the Strait by way of "indirect charter flights" that touched down briefly in Hong Kong or Macau. The ROC and People's Republic of China (PRC) did not repeat the charter flights during the 2004 Chinese New Year, in part because the two sides could not agree on the terms for meetings to discuss how PRC carriers might also participate.

The two sides agreed to permit cross-strait flights for the Chinese New Year of Rooster in 2005. Unlike the 2003 flights, the 2005 flights did not have to touch down in Hong Kong or Macau, but still must enter its airspace. The first direct commercial flights from China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei on January 29, 2005. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier landed in Beijing. Airports on both sides saw ceremonial displays on the arrival of the first passengers, with dancing lions and dragons, and officials making speeches. For the three-week holiday period, 48 flights were scheduled.

On 19 July 2006, the first direct chartered all-cargo flight since 1949 operated by China Airlines landed in Shanghai from Taipei.^[12] Four other flights were operated on 25 July, 30 July, 8 August, and 10 August 2006.^[13]

Further liberalization

In the lead-up to the

On 29 February 2008, Ma announced plans to commence weekend charter flights by 1 July 2008, which will be expanded to daily charters by the end of the year. Regular scheduled flights may commence by June 2009.[15] The airports of Taoyuan, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taitung, and Penghu will be open for these cross-strait flights, while the seaports of Keelung, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Chiayi, and Tainan will be open to direct shipping routes. All restrictions limiting the scope of the "mini three links" will be lifted, including allowing all Taiwanese to use them. Hsieh responded by promising to expand cross-strait charter flights within three months after taking office, including increased flight frequencies and the addition of destinations on the Chinese which may be flown to.^[16] Both liberalization plans were greeted by enthusiasm amongst Taiwanese airlines.^[17]

Formal agreements to launch regular weekend charter flights were signed on 13 June 2008, allowing for an initial 36 return flights per weekend from Friday to Monday, divided equally to allow 18 return flights amongst up to six China-based and six Taiwan-based airlines respectively. The agreement will involve five airports from China, including those in Beijing,

Allocation amongst Taiwanese carriers was adjusted from six airlines to five after the suspension of Far Eastern Air Transport. A rotating allocation system was adopted, whereby in the first week, Mandarin Airlines, TransAsia Airways and UNI Air would fly four return flights each and China Airlines and EVA Airways will fly three flights each, and in the second week, four flights will be operated by TransAsia Airways, UNI Air and China Airlines, while EVA Airways and Mandarin Airlines will fly three flights. The rights will be rotated through in subsequent weeks such that each airline will fly in aggregate the same number of flights every five weeks.^[23] On the Taiwan-Shanghai route, three airlines will be allocated two roundtrip flights each week, and another airline one weekly flight, to be cycled through the five airlines.^[24] China Airlines and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines would fly seven round-trips a week, with four to Shanghai, two to Beijing and one to Guangzhou from Kaohsiung, Makung, Taichung and Taipei. Eva Air and subsidiary UNI Air would fly from Taiwan Taoyuan, Songshan and Kaohsiung to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, while TransAsia Airways will operate from Songshan to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen.^{[citation needed]} China Airlines and its Mandarin Airlines subsidiary would offer 29 return flights in the month of July to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen,^[25] while Eva Air would offer 7 flights per week initially from Taiwan Taoyuan and Songshan airports.^[26]

Announced routes so far are as follows:

Announced Cross-straits flights^[27][28]

Airline	Chinese airport	Taiwanese airport	Flights per week (Week commencing 4 July 2008)	Aircraft	Remarks
Air China	Beijing Capital International Airport	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport	2 (Fridays and Sundays)
Air China	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport	2 (Fridays and Sundays)
China Airlines	Beijing Capital International Airport	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
China Airlines	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
China Eastern Airlines	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport	1 (Sundays)	Airbus A321
China Eastern Airlines	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Taipei Songshan Airport	2 (Mondays and Fridays)	Airbus A321
China Eastern Airlines	Nanjing Lukou International Airport	Taipei Songshan Airport	1 (Fridays)	Airbus A321
Mandarin Airlines	Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport	Makung Airport		Embraer 190
Mandarin Airlines	Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport	Taichung Airport		Embraer 190
Shanghai Airlines	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Taipei Songshan Airport	2 (Fridays and Sundays)	Boeing 767-300ER	First flight to commence[29]

Negotiators are expected to meet again in Taiwan to tackle outstanding issues, including revisiting the issue of introducing cross-strait charter cargo flights within three months,^[30] the introduction of direct flight routes without the need to fly via Hong Kong airspace^[19] and subsequent addition of destinations and frequencies.^[31]

On 19 June 2008, the "Little Three Links" between the islands of Kinmen and Matsu and Fujian was greatly liberalised, allowing any Taiwanese to use the ferry services by travelling to either island on their onward journey into Fujian province and beyond. In response, several Taiwanese airlines increased flights to Kinmen, including Mandarin Airlines (increased Taipei-Kinmen flights), Trans Asia Airways (an additional weekly Taipei-Kinmen flight) and UNI Airways Corporation (increase Taipei-Kinmen flights by one or two each week, for a total of 24 weekly flights). Still, the sudden surge in travellers caused flights to become overbooked in the immediately aftermath of liberalization.^[32] There were calls for further relaxation on travel restrictions of Chinese travelling into the islands so as to enable them to also travel onwards to the main island.^[33] Work was also needed to correct the current trade and movement imbalance, where 300,000 Taiwanese travel via the route to reach China, compared to 37,000 Chinese who travel in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the volume of Chinese goods using the route was significantly higher compared to Taiwanese goods. The MAC Minister Lai Shin-yuan remarked that the Straits Exchange Foundation will negotiate with Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits to allow the Chinese to travel to Taiwan via the route, and to lift a US$100,000 trade value ceiling imposed by the Chinese on Taiwanese goods using the route.^[34]

Full restoration

Full restoration of the Three Links officially commenced on 15 December 2008, with inaugural direct shipping, direct flights, and direct mail.^[35]

On August 31, 2009, the number of flights between China and Taiwan increased to 270. They no longer had to bypass Hong Kong airspace and also were no longer all operating as chartered flights; i.e., a large number of regular scheduled flights began across the Taiwan Strait out of 25 Chinese airports.^[36]

Controversies

During the period of the direct charter flights, the PRC state media stressed that they were domestic flights, whereas the ROC government stressed that they were international flights.^{[citation needed]}

In reaction to 13 June 2008 agreements, the DPP criticized the government of "yielding to China", and accused

The DPP gave itself credit for having "laid the groundwork" for opening weekend charter flights and allowing Chinese tourists into Taiwan, both of which did not occur under KMT rule, and criticised the current negotiators as being "inexperienced and ill-prepared".[37]

Impact

Visitor data from Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council indicates that the China-Taiwan aviation market is about 8 million passengers annually just prior to the June 2008 agreements, and may be expected to immediately increased to 10 million as a result of liberalization. IATA's figures puts the market figure at about 6 million passengers annually based on number of air tickets issued, with the Shanghai-Taipei pair accounting for 40% of the entire market. The ten biggest markets are as follows:

Transit points

The enforcement of the ban on direct trade links has benefited third party transit points, in particular Hong Kong, since 1988. Current China-Taiwan traffic channels about 60% of its traffic via Hong Kong, 30% via Macau, and the rest via other points such as Jeju. In 1997, the Taipei-Hong Kong air route alone constituted one-sixth of the passengers handled at the Hong Kong Airport with five million passengers,^[40] and by 2001, this figure has jumped to 6.7 million. In the fiscal year 2006–07, the Taipei-Hong Kong air route accounted for 18% of Hong Kong's 45 million passengers, making it one of the busiest international air routes by passenger numbers in the world.^[41]

1.6 million air travelers flew into China from Hong Kong in 1996,^[42] and in 2000, 18% of Hong Kong's 2.4 million tourists came from Taiwan, out of which 36% of them traveled on to China with or without staying in Hong Kong.^[43] In the five-year period from 2003 to 2007 there were an average of 3.68 million passengers annually who travel through Hong Kong between the two locations. Today, about 60% of Taiwan-Hong Kong traffic connects onwards to flights into the Chinese, and for the Macau-Taiwan sector, about 80%.^[39]

Currently, over 3,000 flights offering nearly one million seats are operated every month by five airlines, namely China Airlines,

Gradual liberalization has paved the way for direct cooperation between airlines from both sides. China Southern Airlines and China Airlines announced their intention to seal a strategic cooperation contract on 23 June 2008 for cooperation on the weekend chartered flights, soon after the announcement of their liberalization.^[52] Officials from each of the three largest Chinese airlines also flew to Taiwan with attempts to negotiate with Taiwanese airlines on cooperation deals, with likely cooperation between all parties in areas including marketing, ground services, maintenance and airline catering.^[53]

The impending competition also prompted the main Chinese airlines to embark on a publicity blitz, highlighting their intentions to provide their best aircraft, crew and service to passengers, including customized in-flight meals to suit tastes from both sides.^[54]

Announced ticket prices for the first flights were shown to be almost similar to those requiring a stopover, negating expectations of the direct flights depressing ticket prices except on the Xiamen-Taipei route. This was due to high fuel costs, but prices were not expected to rise further.^[55]

Ship routes

In December 2015, the Huangqi-Matsu ship route was introduced as part of the Mini Three Links.^[56][57]

See also

• History of the Republic of China
• Chinese unification
• Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China
• Political status of Taiwan
• Politics of Taiwan
• Taiwan independence

References