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Islands shouldn't gripe over lack of links, MAC says

Kinmen and Matsu residents should not blame slow economic growth on restrictions on the "small three links" between Taiwan and China, a senior cross-strait affairs official said yesterday.

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) told a Central Broadcasting System (CBS) program that regulations on the links are only a minor part of the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).

Liu said the Regulation on Offshore Development (離島建設條例) has a much greater impact on the islands' prosperity.

The regulation underwent its largest-ever overhaul when the legislature passed amendments to it on Oct. 9. Yen Chien-fa (顏建發), director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) China Affairs Department, invited Liu on the CBS program to discuss the impact of the amendment.

They had planned to stage a demonstration in Taipei last Friday but later canceled the activity after negotiating with MAC officials. They held a public hearing in the legislature instead on the same day to urge the government to loosen restrictions on the "small three links."

"The `small three links' should not be directly associated with the islands' economic development. The islands' economic growth needs an overall plan," Liu said.

Direct transportation between Taiwan and China cannot be implemented if China is unwilling to negotiate about details of the plan, Liu said.

"Article 28 of the [cross-strait] statute has provided a sufficient legal foundation for direct transportation between Taiwan and China," he said.

"What truly blocks the progress of direct transportation is China's reluctance to negotiate with us. If they won't talk to us, direct transportation is impossible, even if we work out all supporting measures in 18 months," Liu said.

Liu said one of the goals of the amendment to the cross-strait law was to bridge the gap between cross-strait policies and reality.

"Over the past decade, the cross-strait situation has been changing fast," he said.

However, Liu said, the ups and downs in cross-strait relations have not slowed the cultural and social exchanges between the two sides. Many problems that the government could not foresee have emerged.
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