Taiwan’s Bid to Restore Phone, Mail Links to China Falls Short

TAIPEI, Taiwan —  A bid to deliver mail and open direct telephone links from Taiwan to China for the first time in 40 years failed Saturday after planes refused to carry mail bags and phone lines failed to connect.

Preliminary figures provided by the International Telecommunications Administration showed that only several dozen calls could be made from Taiwan, disappointing thousands who wanted to contact their families in China.

Hundreds of letters addressed directly to China could not be delivered because several airlines refused to take them, the Directorate General of Posts said without explanation.

The Nationalist government on Taiwan banned all direct communications with China in 1949, when it was driven to the island by the Communists. But last week, it said it would allow some direct links to be restored.