Taiwan on Sunday put the finishing touches to preparations for the opening of three landmark "mini-links" between its territory and mainland China.
As of Monday, direct trade, transport and postal services will be authorised between the outlying Taiwanese islands of Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen in Fujian province on the mainland.
The links will be the first of their kind to be approved between China and Taiwan and there are hopes the highly symbolic initiative could lead to an easing of tensions between the two rivals.
Although huge amounts of business are done between Taiwan and China, political tensions mean they are currently largely conducted through Hong Kong and Macau.
The two sides have been at odds since Chinese nationalist forces were forced to flee the mainland in 1949 at the end of a civil war which brought Mao Zedong's communists to power.
Port authorities on Kinmen and Matsu were busy Sunday checking their facilities and software for the opening of the mini links.
The "Haian," the ship which will inaugurate the new era, was at sea, its crew familiarising themselves with the route between Kinmen and China's Xiamen city.
"We have fully prepared ourselves for the 'three mini links,'" said Chuang Yung-tsai, head of Kinmen's Liaolo harbour.
Taiwan's China policy decision-maker appealed to Beijing to cooperate fully with the initiative.
"We hope the Chinese communists would provide necessary assistance to the ships and people from Taiwan," Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the island's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), said after inspecting the preparatory work in Kinmen.
Beijing has so far given only lukewarm support to the planned mini-links, arguing instead that full links should be implemented immediately. Last week, however, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a senior Chinese official as saying Beijing was "willing to help" with the initiative.
In Taiwan, there are high hopes for the mini-links. A poll carried out by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party found that 54 percent of people see them as conducive to an improvement in Taipei-Beijing relations.
The survey of 1,096 people was done from Dec 24-25, with a 3.0 percent margin of error.
Taipei has said that, if the mini links go well, comprehensive direct links would eventually be launched. But the government has not set a timetable.
Under the trial scheme, up to 700 Kinmen residents will be allowed to leave from Kinmen every day, and 100 from Matsu.
Mainland tourists will be allowed to visit Kinmen for up to two days and Matsu for three days. Mainlanders who wish to visit either island for other purposes will be allowed stays of up to a week.
Taiwan's transport ministry said 14 shipping companies have applied for 20 passenger and cargo sailings between the two offshore islands and Fujian. Five have been approved -- KINMEN, Taiwan (AFP)
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