950828

HK-Taiwan air

deal invalid,

says China

HONG KONG: A Chinese aviation official said last month's five-year Hong Kong-Taiwan aviation agreement was invalid, the South China Morning Post reported.

The deal, negotiated by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Taiwan airline representatives, governs air travel between the two territories beyond Hong Kong's 1997 handover.

But general manager Wang Buixiang of the China National Aviation Corp said Cathay was not authorised to negotiate the accord and that any air agreement straddling 1997 had to be discussed and approved by China and London, the Post reported. The agreement is due to take effect from October 30.

Beijing has maintained that it must aprove any deal affecting air links between Taiwan and Hong Kong after the British territory's reversion to Chinese sovereignty.

But a senior Chinese official earlier this month said that Sino-Taiwan tensions would not affect a proposed air link between Taiwan and the nearby Portuguese enclave of Macau.

Ambassador Guo Jiading, head of China's delegation to the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaison Group preparing Macau's transition to Chinese rule, said the JLG's task was to review the air service accord to be reached between Macau and Taiwan airlines.-Reuter