THE Kuomintang (KMT), which will become the ruling party in Taiwan after Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as the island's leader May 20, wants to welcome more mainland tourists, make the yuan more freely convertible and implement a plan for more direct weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Straits starting in July.

A Taipei-based Commercial Times report said Monday that weekend charter flights will begin July 4 and flights will operate daily between Friday and Monday.

Direct charter flights are expected to operate daily before the end of the year.

KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Ping-kung, 75, is scheduled to leave for the mainland April 20 as the head of a mission for talks on these issues, the report said, citing a party official.

On Monday, Ma announced that Chiang will be appointed chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, an organization in charge of dealings with the mainland.

The official said while the mainland has proposed Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen as destinations for the prospective cross-Straits flights, Taipei will propose the addition of Fuzhou.

Taiwan is also ready to open Taoyuan and Kaohsiung airports in the initial stage, to be followed by Taipei and Taichung later, he added.

Currently, cross-Straits charter flights only run during national holidays such as the Lunar New Year, the Qingming Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Taiwan currently only allows yuan convertibility on the Kinmen and Matsu islets, as part of a trial scheme in place since 2005.

(SD-Agencies)