Published : 2025-12-15

On 15 December 2008, the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan established direct air links, direct sea links, and direct postal services, known as the "Three Direct Links" (大三通) across the Taiwan Strait.

On that day, Taiwan's TransAsia Airways' first passenger flight, GE332, flew a more direct route from Taipei Songshan to Shanghai.

On the other hand, Shenzhen Airlines flight ZH9095 was the first regular charter flight from the Chinese Mainland to land in Taiwan, and it received a water cannon salute at Songshan Airport.

According to estimates, via this new air route, the flight distance from Beijing and Shanghai to Taipei, compared to detouring via Hong Kong, was reduced by approximately 1,100 km and 1,000 km one-way, respectively.

Cross-strait sea transport also commenced direct links on this day.

At the Tianjin Port Wharf, the "Xin Yantai" vessel, belonging to China Shipping Group, and the "Da Yang Zhou" vessel from China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) Group were fully loaded with containers and ready for departure.

After the opening of direct sea links, the direct cross-strait sea route across the Taiwan Strait would only take about 48 hours, saving about one day and 140 tonnes of fuel compared to the previous detours.

Calculated based on the annual cross-strait trade volume of 100 billion USD and an annual transport volume of 70 million tonnes at the time, it was possible to reduce transport time by 110,000 hours annually and lower shipping costs by over 100 million USD.

From the same day, mail between the two sides no longer needed to be sent via a third location, and the ceremony for direct cross-strait postal services was held at the Beijing Air Mail Exchange Centre at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Previously, it took about three days at the fastest for mail to travel between the two sides. After the establishment of direct mail links, air mail would be carried by Air China, Taiwan's China Airlines, and EVA Air.