China has delayed until after Chinese New Year a visit to Kinmen by 100 elderly relatives of Kinmen residents who had planned to spend the holidays on the Taiwan-controlled island.
The Kinmen Residents' Association of Xiamen (
The trip, which would have been the first legal journey by Chinese residents from Xiamen to Kinmen in 52 years -- under the provisions of Taiwan's "small three links" (
"We couldn't make the trip on the 16th and 17th due to delays in the application process," president of the association, Dai Yanquan (
Dai refused to give further details, having been barred by Xiamen's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) from accepting interviews with the media.
Sources said that Xiamen's city government held a meeting last Saturday and concluded that no goodwill response would be extended to Taiwan's government despite its efforts in carrying out the small three links policy -- a policy which China regards as implemented unilaterally by Taiwan's government to test possible cross-strait direct transportation without conducting cross-strait negotiation.
No trips have been made from Xiamen to Kinmen since the delegation led by Kinmen County Commissioner Chen Shui-tsai (陳水在) completed the ice-breaking trip on Jan. 2.
Chen had requested Xiamen allow him to bring 100 elderly people back with him to spend the Chinese New Year with their relatives in Kinmen. The Xiamen government, however, has responded coolly in order to put pressure on Taiwan's government to accept the "one China" principle.
Xiamen's Kinmen residents' association nevertheless said that it was still waiting for the authorities' approval to make the trip.
"Since it's the first trip, the application will probably have to go to the TAO in Beijing for final review," said vice president of the association, Xu Boqian (
Dai and Xu both fled from Kinmen to Xiamen during the Sino-Japanese War, and have been separated from family and friends there ever since.
They had no way of contacting their relatives in Kinmen until 1990, when former president Chiang Ching-kuo (
Xu, a civil servant in Xiamen, has landed on Kinmen several times for official purposes pursuant to the establishment of the small three links but no direct contact has been made between him and his relatives in Kinmen.
Xu expressed his hope that the "small three links" policy would somehow succeed in accelerating implementation of the "big three links" policy since he would like to visit Taiwan someday.
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