China, Taiwan agree to flights, tourism: TV

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan and China agreed during historic negotiations on Thursday to launch regular direct weekend passenger flights starting from July 4 and start tour groups two weeks later, Taiwan TV reported.

Direct weekend charter flights will begin from the first week of July, with the first China tourists -- up to 10 per group -- arriving on the normally out-of-bounds island from July 18, various TV reported from a news conference in Beijing.

Apart from special holidays, China has previously insisted flights to and from Taiwan are routed through a third territory such as Hong Kong or Macau.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings in Taipei; Editing by David Fox)