Mainland, Taiwan to negotiate on allowing layovers

BEIJING - Chinese mainland and Taiwan will soon start negotiations on allowing mainland air travelers to transfer in Taiwan, a mainland spokesman announced on Friday.

Upon authorization of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office(SCTAO), the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits has communicated with its Taiwan counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation, and fixed the negotiation schedule, according to Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the SCTAO.

The two sides will also discuss other measures to facilitate cross-Strait travel.

The first round of talks will be held on the mainland.

Ma said the negotiation was arranged according to agreements reached between SCTAO head Zhang Zhijun and Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, Wang Yu-chi, during their meeting last week in Beijing.