Taiwan to sign weekend charter flight pact with China -paper

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A high-ranking Taiwan official will sign a weekend charter flight agreement with China next month, marking the latest breakthrough in cross-strait ties, the Economic Daily reported on Sunday.

Chiang Ping-Kun, incoming chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, is set to visit his counterpart Chen Yun-lin, chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese-language paper said.

Taiwan now has only a few chartered flights with China a year, on certain holidays.

Taiwan ties with China have been warming up after President-elect Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) won a landside victory in March. He will take office next Tuesday.

Since then, Chinese Presdient Hu Jintao has met several KMT officials, including chairman Lien Chan and incoming Vice President Vincent Siew.

Hu invited KMT chairman, Wu Po-hsiung, to visit the mainland late in May, the paper said, citing a report from China's official Xinhua News Agency on Saturday.

China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and pledged to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.