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MAC chairwoman urges Beijing to consider links

The head of the Cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday that direct cross-strait transportation links will be mutually beneficial and urged Beijing to first read Taiwan's assessment report on such links before making a response.

MAC chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made the remarks after Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), a spokesman for Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council, commented the previous day that Taiwan is not sincere about implementing the direct transportation links despite the report's assessment.

Despite President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) announcement earlier this week of wanting to implement the links by the end of next year, Zhang noted that Chen had said the same thing three years ago but failed to deliver. Zhang said that Chen's words are insignificant and lack sincerity.

On Zhang's comment that the ban on direct flights as put forward in the assessment means the direct flights would not be direct, but detoured instead, Tsai said that the ban was included out of national security considerations and that the Ministry of National Defense insisted on this point.

"The government is serious about establishing of cross-strait transportation," Tsai said, asking Beijing "not to have too much political consideration" and to cast aside considerations of the presidential election in Taiwan set for March 20, next year in order to get negotiations started as soon as possible.

Tsai made the remarks after speaking on cross-strait relations at the Ketagalan Academy.

Tsai said at the institute that cross-strait relations have changed in nature, pointing out that the DPP administration has in fact renounced the goal upheld by previous KMT administrations of reclaiming China, and that it is now pursuing a new policy.
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