While China poured cold water on Taiwan's preparations to lift the ban on the "small three links," -- direct commerce, transportation and communications between the offshore island groups of Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese mainland -- the reality is that cross-strait direct shipping has been going on for the best part of 20 years. It has been legal under Chinese law but not until recently under Taiwan law and is still highly restricted.
"About 18 years ago, my ship was probably the first ship to sail directly from Taiwan to the Houzai harbor (
Zhuang Lailong (庄來龍), is the Chinese policeman who boarded Chen's ship to conduct the checkup.
PHOTO: AFP
"I remembered that there seemed to be some people who hid inside the ship, not daring to come out. All I did was make sure their IDs showed who they were," Zhuang said, adding that the only entrants that China feared and forbade were Taiwanese secret agents.
Another policeman, Lin Zhixu (
At a time when the two sides of the Strait were still hostile to each other and had no official contact at all, any personal trips made from Taiwan to China were likely to be warmly welcomed and treated as examples of "returning to the motherland," tools of unification propaganda. Chen says, however, that his trip was made for purely business reasons.
"[Those ships] brought in a lot of living necessities, such as TV sets, appliances and textile products that some local residents needed," director of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in Quanzhou, Lin Min (
Lin added that China treated Taiwanese ships no differently from ships from other Chinese provinces or foreign countries. As far as tariffs were concerned, however, Lin said that Taiwanese ships were levied rates that were between those for boats from other local Chinese ports and those for boats from foreign countries.
Besides cross-strait transportation, commercial links have also existed between Taiwan and China for years. In Quanzhou City, there are more than 200 businesses from Taiwan, while approximately 45 percent of all foreign investment in Xiamen is made by Taiwanese.
"Taiwanese businessmen brought in their capital, technology, management and, most important of all, their knowledge of international commerce, which helped boost the local economy," said Qiu Jiali (邱加力), a local businessman in Quanzhou, adding that average of Chinese incomes had increased eight- to 10-fold after Taiwanese first started investing in southeastern China 10 years ago.
Given the fact that cross-strait links have existed for years, the "big three links (
Chen Yiming (
"If direct transportation is made between Kaohsiung and Xiamen, we will make 10 percent more profit ... And it also saves a lot of traveling time," Chen said.
He warned that "Taiwan surpassed China economically 20 years ago, but China will speed up and overtake Taiwan in 20 years," urging Taiwan officials to take advantage of the market in China.
Pressure from the business sector appears to be making the opening of the big-three-links inevitable. Political obstacles, however, have made the issue a thorny one since China insists on the "one China" principle that the DPP government in Taiwan shows no signs of accepting.
"We can actually take advantage of one common principle that both sides have agreed upon. That is, economic development comes before the settlement of political differences," Chen Kuo-shiun said, adding that he hoped the big three links policy would be implemented within in three months.
He added that the leaders of both sides should put the controversy over unification or independence aside, resume dialogue and allow as much cross-strait exchange as possible in order to enhance mutual understanding and trust before an agreement could be reached.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the