Lawmakers blast MAC direct-links report

The publication of the Assessment Report on the Impact of Direct Cross-strait Transportation yesterday disappointed opposition lawmakers, who blasted the report, saying it said nothing new but was meant to bolster to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) Wednesday promise calling for direct links by or after next year's presidential election.

"The paper released by the Mainland Affairs Council [MAC] contains nothing new but is simply a compilation of outdated opinions. I have doubts that the council wrote such a paper, which takes on the appearance of a research paper, simply out of a need to respond to the president's announcement," said KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進).

Lee the remarks after MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning.

Tsai to lawmakers about the completion of MAC's official assessment of the outcome of the opening of direct cross-strait transportation links hours before the Executive Yuan unveiled the report.

But Lee denounced the latest assessment as a declaration designed to promote the government's role in transportation-link negotiations.

He said that the government claims that it is playing a leading role in direct links negotiations contravened the raison d'etre for the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, an organization which some members of the private sector and some civil groups prefer to be the vehicle to advance cross-strait talks.

"It is imperative that talks with China resume, and [the foundation] is the only method by which Beijing would like to show its willingness to interact," Lee commented.

He said it would be possible to bring Taiwan and China to the bargaining table before a revised cross-strait statute could be passed by the Legislative Yuan.

"Talk first. Then the legislature can map out a timetable for the implementation of direct links through a revision of the statute," Lee said.

But DPP Legislator Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信) said that the MAC drafted its assessment dispassionately.

"The official assessment is practical and meshes with the reality of cross-strait relations," he said.

The gradual implementation of direct links is necessary, since any profound change to cross-strait ties was unlikely to occur while the presidential election is drawing near, he said.