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Move slowly on direct links: survey

Despite a possible boost to the nation's economy that direct trade links with China might bring, over 60 percent of Taiwanese people think that the nation should move slower in establishing direct flights across the Taiwan Strait after China passed the "Anti-Secession" Law earlier this month, according to poll results released yesterday by Wealth Magazine (財訊).

The survey, which had 1,086 responses after polling 1,684 people older than 20 years across the nation between March 7 and March 9, showed that as much as 61.8 percent of respondents thought that the government should act more cautiously and slowly in lifting the ban on two-way, cross-strait direct flights involving both passengers and cargo.

Even so, 42.9 percent of respondents saw the opening-up of direct flights as a stimulus for the local bourse and 58.9 percent of respondents thought such a move would in principle be positive for the nation's economy, the poll found.

However, respondents had mixed views about the time frame for such an opening-up, as 42.1 percent of respondents expected President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to give the green light to direct flights during his administration, while some 37.3 percent did not think so, according to the survey.

"[Opening-up] is an inevitable trend," the monthly's chief executive officer, Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), said yesterday.

Taiwan cannot afford closing itself off to its fast-growing neighbor across the Strait, he said.

China is Taiwan's largest investment destination, taking US$692.1 billion of funds in the first two months of this year, compared to the nation's US$352.6 billion other outward investments over the same period, the economic affairs ministry's Investment Commission reported earlier this month.

Despite the positive views, people also expressed their concern over the potential impact of direct links on a variety of aspects.

Around 43 percent of respondents thought that the removal of the ban would bring uncertainty to Taiwan's rebounding real-estate industry, compared to China's property sector that is booming, the poll found.
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