KMT legislator says Chen returning to days of Lee

A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator yesterday said that the government was trying to revive the strict cross-strait policy of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) by reviving a security mechanism used at the end of Lee's presidential term to tightly control cross-strait exchanges. His comments were dismissed later by a high-ranking Mainland Affairs Council official.

KMT Legislator Su Chi (蘇起) said that the government will give up on trying to open Taiwan to Chinese tourists and cross-strait cargo and passenger charter flights under the spirit of Lee's policy, which utilized a so-called "national security net."

"Chen recently asked Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)] to be vice premier because [Chen] has made up his mind to pursue a hardline cross-strait policy during his remaining two-years in office," Su said.

Su said that Tsai was told by Lee to establish a "national security net" for the last half year of his presidency which would help the government to strictly control cross-strait private exchanges of personnel, capital, merchandise and information.

Tsai was then a National Security Council member and was appointed as Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) chairwoman by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when the Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2000.

"The preparation for the net was led by Tsai and attended by many vice ministers of related governmental departments. I was then chairman of the MAC, and the MAC's representative for the work was Lin Chong-pin (林中斌), the vice chairman at that time," Su said.

"Chen didn't seem to actively push for the national security net in his first term and first half of his second term, since he blew hot and cold on tackling cross-strait relations. Chen decided to take a tougher stance [toward China] after the DPP's debacle of last year's local election," he said.

Tsai could not be reached to comment on Su's remarks.

But a high-ranking MAC official who requested to remain anonymous, criticized Su for making the remarks based on out-of-date and inaccurate information.

"I have attended National Security Council meetings many times since I took up an official post at the MAC in 2004, but none of the them discussed a `national security net.' The term `national security net' wasn't even mentioned," he said.

The official said that Tsai's appointment as vice premier was intended to help advance economic development rather than put in place such a security mechanism.

"The government talked about the idea of a `national security net' four years ago but not now. [Su] hasn't held a government position for quite a while, leaving him to speculate and refer to information that doesn't exist in the current government anymore," he said.

"Opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists and [establishing regular] cross-strait charter flights are still the government's policy goals. It is it China's reluctance to negotiate with Taiwan that has prevented these goals from being implemented -- not a `national security net,'" he said.