MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and China have reached an agreement allowing the establishment of a regular direct air link between Moscow and Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"Consultations have been conducted between the governments of Russia and China on direct flights between Moscow and Taipei. Mutual understanding was achieved on this issue," the ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a news briefing.
Moscow has always sided with Beijing on the sensitive issue of de facto independent Taiwan, an island just off China's east coast, which China considers a breakaway region that must one day be reunited with the mainland.
According to Lukashevich, the flights will be part of regular commercial activity and will be conducted by private carriers – Russia’s Transaero and Taiwan’s China Airlines.
Russia and Taiwan signed an aviation agreement on October 16 aimed at strengthening air links between the two countries.
Taiwan's largest carrier, China Airlines, currently partners Russia's Transaero Airlines in a code-share flight on the Taipei-Moscow route via Bangkok. In addition, there are charter flights on the route by other private airlines.
According to Taiwan's foreign ministry, some 20,000 people traveled between Taiwan and Russia in 2012, up 30-percent year-on-year.
