DPP lacks consensus on links: analyst

The lack of a consensus in Taiwan on the opening of direct links with China has hampered the prospects of starting negotiations on the issue between the two sides, the former mainland affairs chief, Su Chi (蘇起), said yesterday.

"The fundamental and core problem ... is that the government in Taipei does not yet have a vision," said Su in an international seminar on US-China-Taiwan ties held in downtown Taipei yesterday.

"We don't have a Taiwan position yet," added Su, who serves as the convener of the national security division of the National Policy Foundation, a KMT-funded think tank.

Even within the DPP government opinions are still divided on the thorny issue, Su claimed, adding that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should have tried to resolve the internal disagreement.

Su, who served as the chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council under the KMT government, had little hope that negotiations on the issue could start soon between Taipei and Beijing.

He also predicted that Chen would put the issue on the back burner at least up until the end of the presidential election slated to take place in the earlier part of 2004.

Kurt Campbell, senior vice president of the Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that despite constant optimism over the opening of direct links across the Straits, similar predictions that the links will start within two years have been around for the past 15 years.

The issue of opening the so-called "three links" -- for trade, transport and post -- between Taiwan and China, has been brought back into the media spotlight earlier last month by remarks made by Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛).

Qian said any future direct air and shipping links between Taiwan and China could be referred to as "cross-strait," rather than "domestic," a term that China had previously insisted on as part of its policy to regard Taiwan as a province of China.

Opposition politicians, led by KMT Legislator John Chang (章孝嚴), have also raised the issue lately, making efforts to amend laws that ban exchanges and pushing for chartered flights to bring Taiwanese businesspeople home directly from China for the Lunar New Year early next year.

Chinese officials said talks on direct links should be conducted apolitically and at a non-governmental level. But President Chen has reiterated that any such talks should be conducted on a government-to-government level.

The president has said that any form of direct link between the two sides would have to involve the government's authorization and all negotiations should therefore be handled by the government.

Su said China's move to push for the links was political and not economic, arguing that China relaxed its attitude on the issue to prevent what it saw as pro-independence forces from growing within the incumbent DPP government.