Flight from China to Taiwan a historic step

More than 200 mainland Chinese tourists arrived today in Taiwan on the first regular commercial flight in nearly six decades, a historic move aimed at further easing tensions between the old foes.

The China Southern Airlines flight carrying 230 passengers touched down at Taoyuan International Airport in northern Taiwan, and firetrucks on the ground shot water at the plane as a welcome gesture.

“From today onward … relations between the two sides will become better and better,” Chinese pilot Liu Shaoyun said after the 90-minute flight from Guangzhou in southern China.

Taiwan’s China Airlines flew more than 300 Taiwanese on a charter flight to Shanghai earlier in the day.

The historic step is aimed at warming relations between the self-ruled island of 23 million people and its powerful neighbor, which claims Taiwan as a renegade province.