Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said it expects to hold talks with Chinese officials in the fourth quarter on expansion of air links and establishment of direct shipping links between the island and the mainland.

SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung will likely meet in Taipei with Chen Yunlin, the chairman of the body's mainland counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), according to SEF's secretary general Kao Koong-lian.

On the agenda will be questions such as increasing the number of Taiwan-China direct flights and the number of airports authorized to serve them.

The two sides will also discuss permitting airlines to carry cargo on current weekend passenger charter flights.

The issue of direct shipping links, which were cut in 1949 at the end of the civil war, could also come up for discussion, Kao said.

However, the question of simplifying the bureacratic procedures for travel permits -- which both sides feel is necessary -- has not been put on the agenda, he said.

SEF and ARATS in June signed agreements in Beijing alowing weekend passenger charter flights between Taiwan and China and permitting more Chinese tourists to travel to the island.