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大三通 (da san tong)

Three Direct Links

A term used to describe the direct flights, shipping and postal services across the Taiwan Straits. Inaugurated on Monday, their reopening between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan signals the breaking of a decades-long ban on regular links with Chinese compatriots across the Taiwan Straits. Direct communication across the Straits virtually stopped after the new China was founded in 1949 and the Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan.

The establishment of three direct links - trade, transport and postal services - was first proposed by the mainland in 1979, hoping to end cross-Straits separation for the benefit of both economies and people.

In 2001, a "mini three links" was established, allowing postal, transportation and trade between the mainland's coastal Fujian province and the islands of Jinmen and Matsu in Taiwan. Cross-straits charter flights were approved in 2003 during the Lunar New Year and later expanded to other traditional festivals.

(China Daily 12/23/2008 page8)