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TAIPEI - The United States urged Taiwan to open direct transportation and business links with the Chinese mainland, and warned it of the risk of placing itself outside of regional integration trends.

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"We encourage Taiwan to negotiate with the Chinese mainland to open the three links -- especially direct flights -- as soon as possible," Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said in an address to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei.

"The longer Taiwan waits to open the three links, the greater risk it faces of placing itself outside of regional integration trends. Establishing the three links will make Taiwan more competitive and a better place to invest and do business," Young said.

The three links -- transportation, commerce and postal services -- have been cut since Taipei and Beijing split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Cargo and passenger services do exist but they are made through third parties, mainly Hong Kong.

Calls for the resumption of direct links have been mounting given ever closer economic ties but Taiwan says government-level negotiations are required before the ban can be lifted.

"The longer Taiwan waits to open the three links, the greater risk it faces of placing itself outside of regional integration trends. Establishing the three links will make Taiwan more competitive and a better place to invest and do business," Young said.

Lifting the ban would also be in the great interest of US businesses, he said.

"It is also important to US firms who face obstacles importing into Taiwan products or components that they produce in the mainland. It is still far too difficult for companies to bring the mainlander staff to Taiwan for training or business meetings.

The mainland has been Taiwan's largest trading partner since late 2002. The mainland, including Hong Kong, imported US$65 billion worth of goods from Taiwan in the nine months to September, up 17 percent year-on-year. Taiwan ran a surplus of US$46 billion on the trade.