MAC doubts Chen's China policy

Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) yesterday questioned the feasibility of opening one-way shipping links with China as a step towards the eventual phasing out of Taiwan's ban on direct links across the strait, saying such a proposal did not take into account China's lack of respect for Taiwan.

Su made the comments during questioning at the Legislative Yuan over the reported China policy of the DPP's presidential candidate, Chen Shui-bian (3?糮?/CHINESE>).

"Chen's `one-way links' stance only takes into consideration security concerns. But it neglects [national] respect," Su said. "The cross-strait relationship must not be viewed as that of a central government to a local government -- it must be equal and include respect such as with special state-to-state relations."

Questions over Chen's China policy have been building over the past three days, since a local newspaper published on Monday an outline of what it said was Chen's to-be-released policy paper.

With a DPP-sponsored international conference on "China in the 21st Century" scheduled to meet this weekend, the local media has been anxiously pressing Chen for more details on his policy.

On Tuesday, responding to questions from reporters, Chen said that he would focus "first on sea and then air" links and "first on cargo and then on people" as a viable approach.

Su said yesterday that such an approach was very much like the policy the government had already outlined in its "prerequisites for three links" pamphlet.

Chen has said he is clearly opposed to the government's "no haste, be patient" policy towards investment in China, but has yet to announce his party's official policy position in the run-up to next year's presidential election.

DPP party members say a clearer idea of when the policy will be announced will be made after this weekend's conference.

Chen is considering a more enterprising approach to improving the three direct links -- transportation, commerce and communications -- across the Strait which could still bring cross-strait links into consideration.

Currently, all transportation communication and commercial links between Taiwan and a China must be routed via a third country or customs territory.

The newspaper article said that Chen was proposing "one-way links" (3獡V直航) as a way of easing into direct links, while still maintaining Taiwan's security.

Chen first made the idea public in late September but was overshadowed by the 921 earthquake.

On Sept. 20, Chen expressed his desire to take a more active approach to cross-strait relations, saying that, if elected, he would try to travel to China before his inauguration.

Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Shi Hwei-yow (3惠祐), while unwilling to comment on the details of individual candidate's policies towards China, would only respond by saying, "election talk and real policies are usually far apart."

KMT maverick James Soong has also expressed his opposition to a direct links ban.

Loosening the existing direct links ban is seen by many political analysts as a crucial way of winning support from business leaders -- many of whom have invested large amounts of money into projects in China.