In south China's island province of Hainan, many Taiwan compatriots who live or work there hope that direct flights could be resumed soon between cities on the mainland and Taiwan for better cross-Straits communication.

"So far, this has not been resumed between Taipei and Haikou. Now, we could only apply for chartered planes," said Lee Ming-chu, who is based in Haikou, the capital city of Hainan and engaged in trade and investment for more than a decade. 

"Coming through the epidemic in the past three years, I believe what we all care about is what we should do next. Our business people care about the speed and the return on investment. Now, I have felt it more," she said.

Lee is helping Taiwan compatriots do business on the mainland. She says she hopes direct flights will fully resume and she is optimistic about greater communication between both sides.

"Could we set up a business link, just like those between Taiwan and Fujian?" suggested Lin Ho-chou, a farmer from Taiwan who grows fruits in Wenchang, a city in eastern Hainan.

Lin proposes an expeditious direct link between Hainan and Taiwan, the two islands where geographical conditions are similar.

He takes the fruit bags in his wax apple plantation for example, saying that the bags are imported from Taiwan, but the transport route is long, from Taiwan's city of Kinmen to the mainland's city of Xiamen and then to Haikou and then Wenchang.

"With the Hainan free trade port coming into being and then setting up such a link, it will be good for our farmers, for example, in bringing seedlings here before it's too late in the long journey," he said.

For Kathy Ling, a Taiwan compatriot running a biomedical branch in the special medical zone of Lecheng, close to the permanent venue site of the Boao Forum For Asia (BFA), cross-Straits communication is increasing.

"In this post-epidemic time, we have welcomed three groups of leaders of medical schools and organizations from Taiwan to visit," she said.

"We see them looking forward very much to the full resumption of direct flights between both sides as soon as possible and to building up the medical communication and academic and talent exchanges," she said, with a vision for the future.