SEF goes to the front line of `small links'

A group of Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) executives visited Taiwan's frontline island of Kinmen yesterday as preparations for the opening of the "small three links" with China on Jan. 1 intensified.

SEF Deputy Secretary-General Yen Wan-chin (顏萬進) said upon his arrival at the defense outpost that opening direct trade, postal and shipping links between the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu and China's Xiamen and Mawei port in Fujian Province on Jan. 1, 2001.

"Even if Beijing authorities continue resisting talks with us on the `small three links' (小三通) issue, the policy will be implemented as scheduled," Yen said.

Yen went on to say that the SEF is ready to talk with Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) on the "small three links" issue.

The SEF and ARATS are quasi-official intermediary bodies mandated by their respective governments to handle cross-strait exchanges in the absence of official ties.

"We have not yet given up hope of holding face-to-face discussions with ARATS officials on `small three links' issues before the end of this year," Yen said, adding that the SEF will also be willing to negotiate with ARATS even after the links are opened.

Touching on the Kinmen County Government's hope that both the SEF and ARATS will post officials on Kinmen to help deal with commercial disputes, travel services and criminal activities that may arise after the opening of direct links with Xiamen, Yen said the SEF has already finalized a plan to set up a branch office in Kinmen to facilitate services for Kinmen and Xiamen residents.

"Once the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which oversees SEF operations, approves the plan, the SEF will dispatch staff members to operate its Kinmen branch office," Yen said.

Yen said, however, that "two-way" traffic links still involves many technical problems that must be resolved through SEF-ARATS discussions.

"We have prepared a detailed agenda for bilateral negotiations, but we cannot reveal it at this moment," he added.

Yen further said that if Beijing remains reluctant to return to the negotiating table, Taiwan will be forced to implement one-way trade and shipping links with the mainland in the initial stage, including legalizing the trading of "small amounts" between Kinmen and Xiamen fishermen, which has been going on illegally for years. Kinmen lies far closer to Xiamen than to Taiwan.