BEIJING — The space industry base that China is building at Tianjin will handle all the main technical processes in making spacecraft and rockets, says the project’s backer, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. Activities at the base will form a complete chain stretching from research and development, to trial production, testing and manufacturing.

Taiwan’s China Airlines is now connecting both of the island’s largest cities with Shanghai, following the beginning of a weekly charter service by subsidiary Mandarin Airlines from Kaohsiung on Dec. 20. The carrier is using Airbus A330-300s for the flight, which has been added to Shanghai services from Taipei. Connections between Taiwan and China are proliferating under an agreement between the two governments to reduce restrictions on direct links across the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese air traffic growth is looking healthier as damaging one-off factors fade away and leave the industry facing a weakened but still expanding domestic market. The biggest airlines are now reporting higher demand than a year earlier, in contrast to their performance of earlier in 2008 and in contrast to foreign rivals mired in the global economic slowdown.