Chen insists links need official talks

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged China to open negotiations on direct links across the Taiwan Strait but reiterated his stance that the government would have to be involved.

His comments came a day after Beijing officials said China was ready to open direct links and following calls by opposition legislators to allow charter flights to bring Taiwanese businesspeople home directly from China for the Lunar New Year holiday.

"Any form of direct transportation, such charter flights, would involve the government's authority, which can't be replaced by any private body," Chen said when receiving a group of business leaders at the Presidential Office.

"Only when both sides of the Strait sit down to hold talks can all the problems be solved," he said.

The president told the business representatives that the issues concerning direct air and shipping links were complicated and sensitive, but that the government was prepared to face them.

But he warned that it would be difficult to negotiate with Beijing.

"The other side of the Strait always gives different interpretations of the direct links issue when making comments domestically and to foreign audiences," the president said. "Moreover, its actions are inconsistent with what it says, which leads it to make contradictory remarks at different times and places."

Opposition politicians, led by KMT Legislator John Chang (章孝嚴), have raised over the past week the issue of opening the so-called "three links," which include trade, transport and post.

Chinese officials responded on Wednesday that talks on direct links should be conducted apolitically and at a non-governmental level.

They also demanded that Chinese airlines and shipping companies be given the right to operate routes across the Strait.

A source from the Presidential Office told reporters yesterday that China had been softening its tone recently to help foster contacts between the two sides' private sectors, including opposition parties, bypassing the government.

Earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛) said links could be referred to as "cross-strait" rather than "domestic," the term it had previously insisted on.

Chen responded that Qian's remarks were welcome but that the government needed to observe whether Qian's comments rep-resented his government's stance.

"The international community seems to pay a lot of attention to the latest developments in the cross-strait relationship," the source said. "Taiwan has to clearly express its stance."

Taiwan was ready to discuss direct links with China, the source said, but any communications must be held officially.

"Holding government-to-government talks is the first and only step," the source said. "Then both sides can work out all the controversial issues."

"There is no company or industry in China that is genuinely a private one. Therefore, Beijing has no right to make such a request [for non-government talks]," the source said.

Taiwan's Cabinet is due to finish evaluating the technical obstacles to direct transport links with China by November.