"We've waited a long time for this," said Keynes Chen, general manager with International SOS in Taiwan. "The feeling is quite exciting. This is a good thing for cross-Straits exchange." (Photo: Xinhua)   Sept. 15 - A plane evacuating a 71-year-old stroke victim took off for Taiwan from China on Thursday, the first direct medical flight since 1949.

 

The Taiwan citizen's 100-minute evacuation from Guangzhou to Taipei, stems from a June agreement that also calls for direct passenger and cargo flights.

 

The Taiwan authority has banned direct air links with Chinese mainland since their split in 1949. But as about a million Taiwan people live in China for business or study, Taipei and Beijing exchanged landmark non-stop charter flights for the first time since then during the Lunar New Year Festival of 2005.

 

A Taiwan citizen with a medical emergency in south China would normally take a road ambulance to Macau or Hong Kong, then fly home, adding three or four hours to the total travel time, according to Thurday's Guangzhou-Taipei flight operator, Singapore-based International SOS.

 

"We've waited a long time for this," said Keynes Chen, general manager with International SOS in Taiwan. "The feeling is quite exciting. This is a good thing for cross-Straits exchange."

 

On June 15 this year, Taiwan agreed to allow direct cargo flights on a case-by-case basis and passenger flights during four major holidays, including the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Taipei and Beijing also agreed to allow special emergency medical and humanitarian aid charter flights.