The Three Links or Three Linkages (Chinese: 三通; pinyin: sān tōng) was a 1979 proposal from the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to open up postal (simplified Chinese: 通邮; traditional Chinese: 通郵; pinyin: tōng yóu), transportation (especially airline) (通航; tōng háng), and trade (通商; tōng shāng) links between mainland China and Taiwan,[1] with the goal of unifying Mainland China and Taiwan.[2]
Before the establishment of the "Three Links", communication between the two sides were routed through intermediate destinations, primarily Hong Kong; Macau; Jeju, South Korea and Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The "Three Links" were officially established on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct flights, shipping and post.