A deal to expand direct charter flights between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland should be reached "very soon," a Taiwan official said on Feb. 7.

"The two sides may be able to strike an agreement very soon," Joseph Wu, chairman of Taiwan's "Mainland Affairs Council" said in a speech at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington.

"I personally hope that can be done very shortly," he added in remarks that followed statements earlier by officials from Beijing and Taipei that aviation talks were making progress.

Taiwan banned direct air links with the mainland since their split in 1949 after a civil war. But the two sides exchanged landmark nonstop charter flights for the first time in more than 50 years during the Lunar New Year period in January and February 2005, and agreed to add three more holidays in 2006.