Taipei - Taiwan's incoming President Ma Ying-jeou said Thursday he is confident that Taiwan and China can launch charter flights on July 4.

In an interview with Hong Kong's Phoenix TV, Ma tried to dismiss fears that his picking of Lai Hsin-yuan, from the pro-independence political party Taiwan Solidarity Union, to chair the Mainland Affairs Council has hurt Taipei-Beijing ties and may disrupt his plan to launch cross-Strait charter flights in July.

The Mainland Affairs Council sets Taipei's policies towards China.

Ma won the March 22 election on his platform to improve ties with Beijing. He promised to open trade ties with China and launch sea and air links with the mainland after his inauguration on May 20.

In the interview Ma said that Taiwan's aviation sector has discussed the flights with their Chinese counterparts through unofficial channels.

"Basically, the two sides are happy to launch charter flights in July. We select July 4 as the date to launch charter flights, because July 4 is the first Friday in July, so it is the first chance we can launch a weekend charter flight," Ma said.

Ma has hopes that weekend charter flights will be expanded to daily charter flights for tourists and eventually turned into regular flights across the Taiwan Strait.

"Either weekend charter flights or mainland tourists visiting Taiwan, the talks are almost completed. Now we only need approval from both sides' leaders," Ma said.

"I hope that after my inauguration on May 20, the Mainland Affairs Council will authorize the Straits Exchange Foundation to implement Taipei and Beijing's agreement on launching weekend charter flights," he added.

After eight years of strained relations with Taiwan due to President Chen Shui-bian's separatist policies, China expects ties to improve under Ma who is from the pro-Beijing Chinese Nationalist Party. China views Taiwan as its breakaway territory. (dpa)