Stewardesses who will serve China Eastern Airlines' direct charter flights to Taiwan show off souvenirs that will be given to passengers.  The Shanghai-based carrier's first flight from the city takes off on Saturday.--Xinhua

Direct charter flights that begin this weekend between China's mainland and Taiwan will not improve relations due to the island authorities' persistent push for "independence," a government spokesman said yesterday in Beijing.
"The current situation between the two sides remains grim," Li Weiyi, a spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference.
He said the arrangements for charter flights during the coming Spring Festival will not lead to the resumption of cross-strait talks.
Twelve mainland and Taiwan airlines will operate charter flights between the mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and the Taiwanese cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung from Saturday to February 20.
The landmark flights will give thousands of mainland-based Taiwan business people and their families the ability to fly home in two to four hours, cutting three hours from the usual route, which requires a stopover in Hong Kong or Macau.
The direct charter flights were a one-off deal aimed at making it more convenient for Taiwan investors, who have poured up to US$100 billion into the mainland, to return home for family reunions during the Spring Festival, which begins on February 9, Li said.
"It does not signify that cross-Strait negotiations have resumed," Li said.
Li accused Taiwan authorities of fanning the flames of hatred against the mainland, distorting the will of the Taiwanese and planning a step-by-step push for "Taiwan independence" politically and culturally.
The provocative moves of the Taiwan authorities for "Taiwan independence" pose a severe threat to peace and stability across the strait and in the Asia-Pacific