Opposition lawmakers yesterday lambasted Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
Tsai did not appear in a legislative session where she was scheduled to present a report on the "small three links" between Kinmen, Matsu and China.
MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
China's state-run Xinhua media agency reported early yesterday morning that Chinese national security agencies have nabbed 24 Taiwanese spies and 19 Chinese colluding with them.
Believing China's high-profile crackdown on Taiwanese spies resulted from President Chen Shui-bian's (
Tsai's absence from the session plunged opposition lawmakers and council officials into a brawl that lasted for nearly two hours.
"How could Tsai take leave without the legislature's approval at this sensitive time, when the spy case has put many Taiwanese businessmen's lives in danger?" asked People First Party (PFP) Legislator Tsao Yuan-chang (曹原彰).
PFP Legislator Lee Ching-hua (
"She doesn't care whether these Taiwanese businessmen are alive or dead," Lee said.
Chen Ming-tong, who was allowed to report on Tsai's behalf on the small three links after the session was delayed for two hours, defended Tsai by saying she had not taken leave throughout the year.
"Tsai received the personnel association's order demanding her to take leave on Dec. 12. She thus arranged to take leave this week," Chen Ming-tong said.
Even though Tsai is on leave, she remains informed of the council's operation and all related situations at all times, Chen Ming-tong said, adding: "She would never neglect her job."
Reporting that 125 Taiwanese people have gone missing in China over the past three years, the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) handling cross-strait affairs said it has contacted its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, to help find missing Taiwanese people.
Over the past six months, SEF Secretary General Shi Hwei-yow (
But Shi admitted communications between the two bodies have not been smooth and that the Chinese agency would respond to the foundation's letters only in extreme cases.
Shi said relatives of missing Taiwanese businessmen suspected of being involved in espionage in China have reported to the foundation.
However, Shi said according the relatives' accounts, he did not think the Taiwanese businessmen's going missing had anything to do with the spy case.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council summoned presidents of all Taiwanese businessmen's associations in China for an emergency meeting in Beijing today.
The office notified the presidents to arrive in Beijing yesterday and that they would be picked up at the airport.
The office did not reveal the purpose of the meeting, but the timing of the meeting has aroused wide speculation because of the spy case. Some of the invited presidents said the office informed them of the meeting by telephone.
"The office did not give further details of the meeting. It only said we would know what's going on when we arrive in Beijing," an unnamed president said.
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