Politicians and people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait hope the launch of direct flights yesterday will move them a step away from the threat of hostilities.

For the two countries, who have remained technically at war for more than 60 years, the risks are real. Communist leaders of the People’s Republic of China say that they are determined to recover the island.

Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China (ROC) since Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland after defeat by Chairman Mao’s armies in 1949, has had a similar ambition. For decades, Mr Chiang’s successors said that their aim was to reconquer the mainland and bring it back under the ROC flag.

Since the split, the two sides have grown steadily apart, at first in the absence of any contacts at all from the late 1940s until the late 1980s.

A thaw in relations in the early 1990s resulted in a flood of Taiwan investment into the mainland. Its entrepreneurs are now estimated to be the biggest outside investors in China. But the Government has long banned direct links, particularly transport, fearing the island would be infiltrated by Communist agents.

The next step may depend on panda diplomacy. Taiwan authorities have finally said they would be willing to accept a gift of two four-year-old giant pandas. The two animals — Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, which, run together, mean “united” — were regarded as too political by the island’s previous Government.

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