Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said it plans to purse talks with its mainland China counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), to expand cross-strait flights and establish direct shipping links.

The talks will be subject to approval from Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), it said.

"Related government agencies here are discussing issues such as more flights and airports serving cross-strait passenger charter flights," SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung told reporters.

Permitting airlines to carry cargo on current weekend passenger charter flights may also be on the agenda, he said.

Another topic for discussion would be allowing airlines to fly on a direct path between Taiwan and China, he said.

Taiwan-China flights currently have to traverse Hong Kong airspace, leading to increased flying time and higher fuel consumption.

The issue of establishing direct shipping links across the strait, which have been banned since 1949 when both sides split at the end of a civil war, could also come up for discussion, the SEF official said.

"What we will discuss with ARATS in the next round of negotiation will depend on authorization of MAC," he said. The MAC supervises Taiwan's policies towards China.

Political matters may be taken up in the long run, but the current priority is economic issues, he said.

When asked if ARATS head Chen Yunlin will visit Taiwan in November as some reports said earlier, Chiang said he hopes the trip will take place although a concrete schedule has yet to be worked out.

"I hope his arrival time will be the time we can complete second-round of negotiations," Chiang said.

The SEF and ARATS inked agreements in Beijing last month to allow weekend passenger charter flights between Taiwan and China and permitting more Chinese tourists to travel to the island.

The weekend charter flights began on July 4.

Chiang expects closer ties to benefit Taiwan's exports as well as domestic demand.

Arrival of one mln mainland tourists to Taiwan a year could boost the island's annual consumption demand by 60 bln twd, the official noted.