Consulting members of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) reached a consensus yesterday that direct links with China should be carried out in an incremental way so that "sea transportation comes before air transportation, cargo before passengers."
They also suggested that the links should begin with certain ports before full liberalization, said Jan Jyh-horng (
The MAC yesterday called a consulting meeting on the issue of direct links with China. The conclusion of the meeting is not binding.
Jan also said that although the members' opinions differed over various aspects of the issue, they all agreed that the links should be carried out incrementally.
"The members suggested that we should carry out the matter step-by-step in order to gain some experience [before full adoption]," Jan said.
In addition, according to Jan, some members suggested that Taiwan should adopt a term, such as "cross-strait" or "Taiwan-Mainland" instead of "domestic" or "international," to define the route between Taiwan and China."
As China has long insisted that transportation between Taiwan and China is "domestic," the problem of the definition of the route has failed to be resolved over the past decade.
"Since it is impossible for China to change it's `one China' stance, Taiwan may change its tactics to adopt a vaguer term to define the route," Jan said.
According to Jan, during the meeting, various political disputes and technical problems concerning cross-strait issues were touched upon, including mutual recognition of identification documents of related personnel serving on the ships and flights of both sides, a balance in transportation, ticket prices and taxes and customs examinations and conflicts that arise out of the interpretation of related laws in Taiwan and China.
Regarding the complexity of the political disputes and technical problems across the Strait, the members suggested that negotiations should be proceeded by a team of experts from different fields instead of individuals, private groups or organizations.
Some members suggested that the Taiwan-Hong Kong aviation pact talks could be a reference for future talks on direct links with China.
In terms of the timing of the initiation of talks, a few of the members suggested starting them within one or two years, saying that the earlier the talk, the more Taiwan can benefit, while others had reservations on the issue.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all