Kinmen County yesterday began importing water from China’s Fujian Province to stabilize its water supply, while county Commissioner Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) said he hopes to boost bilateral ties with the Chinese province through what he called “three new links.”
Separate ceremonies were held in Kinmen and China’s Jinjiang City to mark the opening of the water supply system, with Chen and other local politicians attending the ceremony in Kinmen.
The county government held the ceremony as scheduled, despite calls by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to delay it after Beijing pressured members of the East Asian Olympic Committee to revoke Taichung’s right to host the East Asian Youth Games next year.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
The “water link” — one of Chen’s “three new links” — is the result of an agreement that Taiwan and China signed in 2015 to provide Kinmen with water for 30 years, Chen said.
It is followed by an “electricity link” and “bridge link” between Kinmen and China, he added.
Chen also referred to the “small three links” — postal, transportation and trade connections between Taiwan and China that started in 1991.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
According to the water purchase agreement, Kinmen is to import up to an average of 34,000 tonnes of water a day at a cost of NT$9.86 per cubic meter, and the daily supply could reach 55,000 tonnes a day, the Kinmen County Waterworks said.
The ceremony in Jinjiang was attended by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一), along with China’s Fujian Province Governor Yu Weiguo (于偉國), and a Taiwanese delegation of more than 20 councilors led by Kinmen County Council Speaker Hung Li-ping (洪麗萍).
The water connection signals the development of peaceful cooperation between Kinmen and Jinjiang, which were previously divided by military conflicts, Liu said at the ceremony.
“Only if cross-strait relations are good will Taiwanese be better off,” Liu said.
Liu criticized Taiwanese who opposed the system out of “malicious political purposes,” saying they would “meet their doom” for neglecting the well-being of their compatriots.
The MAC in a statement congratulated Kinmen, while condemning Beijing for using the system for political gains.
The water system — a commercial agreement — was politicized by China as a “gift” to Taiwan in a bid to split Taiwanese, it said.
The government has displayed its utmost goodwill by allowing the system to be launched as scheduled, at a time when cross-strait relations are tense, the council said.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said more deliberation is needed regarding the “three new links,” but added that the government would prioritize the needs of Kinmen residents.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the