Beijing - Chinese officials hailed Monday's opening of direct transport and postal links with Taiwan as a historic step that was expected to boost both their economies.
"Today is another memorable date in the history of cross-strait relations, ... which signifies that our 30-year effort has finally paid off," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Yi, China's top official for Taiwan affairs, as saying.
Direct shipping links would greatly reduce costs and give a "new impetus" to relations between mainland China and Taiwan, said Wang, who heads the ruling Communist Party's Taiwan Work Office and its government equivalent.