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Opposition visits not helpful to direct links

While meeting a delegation from the Chamber of Taiwan Businessmen in China (中國台商發展促進協會) on June 25, the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), said that Beijing could accept the establishment of direct links, as long as they are defined as "domestic links." If we compare Chen's remarks to those he made in May, Beijing's stance appears to have become more conservative. China seems to be setting more preconditions for talks on direct links.

I believe the recent rush by Taiwan's opposition parties to visit China was one of the major factors that prompted Beijing to change its stance on cross-strait talks.

The opposition is looking for a quick solution to the direct-links issue in order to counter the DPP on the unification-independence policy spectrum. Bei-jing is aware of the opposition's needs and has so has adopted a more hardline stance -- once again setting its "one China" principle as a precondition for negotiations.

Thus, the space for ambiguity has once again disappeared and talks on direct links have once again become bargaining chips in political wrangling across the Taiwan Strait.

On the surface, the opposition appears to be actively promoting cross-strait talks on direct links. In fact, however, it is merely making future negotiations more difficult.

In his May 21 response to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) speech on Tatan Island, Chen Yunlin said he would welcome the Taiwan government's swift delegation of authority to private organizations to negotiate direct links. Unlike previous speeches, he did not set preconditions in his comments this time, nor did he mention principles such as "one China" or "a country's internal affairs."

His speech, together with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen's (錢其琛) show of goodwill toward the DPP in January, could be interpreted by the international community as a sign that Beijing has begun to show some flexibility in its Tai-wan policy.

However, we can see that Beijing has changed its attitude after meeting with Taiwan's opposition lawmakers. We can get a glimpse of what prompted that change from KMT Legislator John Chang's (章孝嚴) response to Chen Yunlin's remarks.

Chang said the cross-strait transport links can be defined as (links within) "one China" that includes the mainland and Taiwan, and stressed that only such "domestic links" can be acceptable to both sides. His remarks echoed Beijing's official stance and are incompatible with public opinion in Taiwan.

However, such opinions have directly encouraged Beijing's officials to revert to their previous conservative positions on direct links negotiations.

Just as Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said, the so-called "one country's internal affairs" is in fact merely another way of presenting the "one China" principle. With opposition lawmakers "proactively" pushing for direct links, Beijing has begun to tie the links issue to political dialogue -- with an aim at getting everything it wants in one fell swoop.

I have always believed the direct links issue has to be resolved through bilateral talks, but controversial issues can be set aside for the moment so as to facilitate the launch of the talks.

However, the opposition parties' China visits this time are not helping the direct links. Instead, they are compressing the existing space for ambiguity and pushing the two sides farther away from the negotiating table.

At present, there is no knowing just when direct links could be established.

Chen Chi-mai is a DPP legislator.

Translated by Francis Huang and Eddy Chang
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