Chen Deming, China’s minister of commerce (right), speaks with Vincent Siew, Taiwan’s vice president-elect, during a panel on cross-straits economic relationships between Taiwan and mainland China at the 2008 Boao Forum for Asia in Boao, Hainan province, China, on Sunday. Siew said the opening of direct transport links between the island and mainland China is "most important.’’ --Bloomberg

CHINA wants direct transport links between the mainland and Taiwan as soon as possible, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said.

Stronger links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait would help mitigate the impact of the US subprime-mortgage crisis, Chen said in a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in China’s southern Hainan province.

“Direct transport links and the normalization of economic relations should be implemented as soon as possible,” Chen said. “The two economies across the strait have different characteristics and environments and can complement each other.”

Taiwan President-elect Ma Ying-jeou has pledged to end a five-decade ban on regular direct flights to China’s mainland as soon as he takes office. Links have been limited since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, forcing passengers to travel via Hong Kong or another destination.

The restrictions “are increasing the costs of Taiwanese businesses,” Cosco Pacific Ltd. chairman Wei Jiafu told the discussion. The company is Asia’s third-largest container-terminal operator.

President Hu Jintao said Sunday China will make efforts to push forward negotiations on weekend charter flights and allow mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Mainland investment

HU made the comments during his meeting with Taiwan’s Vice President-elect Vincent Siew at the Boao Forum. That meeting was the highest-level contact between leaders of the two neighbors across the Taiwan Strait in almost six decades.

China and Taiwan may start weekend charter flights on July 4, the Taipei-based China Times reported Monday, without citing anyone.

Opening direct transport links with mainland China is the “most important” part of Taiwan’s strategy to boost the island’s economy, Siew said.

Taiwan needs about $43 billion of private-sector investment in infrastructure projects over the next eight years and the government “welcomes investment from the mainland,” he said.

“The economies of China and Taiwan have developed under different conditions,” Chen Deming said in a statement posted on the ministry’s web site after the discussion. “The potential for further development is huge.”

Taiwan’s government limits investments by the island’s chip foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in China. President-elect Ma has pledged to relax restrictions once he takes office.

“Taiwanese semiconductor technology will enable Chinese companies to boost their innovation,” Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor, said at the panel discussion. “The opportunities for cooperation are tremendous.” (Bloomberg)

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CHINA International Marine Containers Co., the world’s largest maker of shipping containers, bought a 3-percent stake in Singapore-listed Goodpack Ltd., a maker of bulk containers for storing and transporting commodities.

CHINA wants direct transport links between the mainland and Taiwan as soon as possible, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said.

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