Lee said that when he met with MAC Deputy Chairman Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成) last Saturday, he was told that the council would only discuss chartered cross-strait flights and allowing Chinese tourists to visit and that it did not want to deal with other complications. This made him question Ma’s inaugural pledge to immediately expand links, he said.
If there was a drop-off in visitors traveling to Kinmen via the small three links, the hotel and transportation industry on the island would suffer, he said.
Lee said talks between the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait should give careful consideration to the outlaying islands.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday that he was optimistic about getting the MAC’s approval to visit China later this month to sign an agreement on participating at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Hau plans to visit Shanghai from June 23 to June 28 after the city government was invited to showcase its achievements in wireless broadband development and recycling at the expo.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan chih, Jenny W. Hsu and CNA
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