Political analysts warned yesterday that if the pan-blue camp insists on undermining the government's authority by hastily ramming through amendments that would lift restrictions on cross-strait transport, it will pay a price -- particularly when it returns to power.
The pan-blue camp has proposed amending three clauses of the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
The amendments are scheduled for review in the legislature tomorrow, after the pan-green camp blocked a review on Friday.
The draft clauses would significantly sideline the government's role in implementing the policy of opening up cross-strait direct transport links, said Chen Ming-tung (
"It's ridiculous. Even if [the pan-blue camp] wants to liberalize current regulations governing direct transportation with China, they shouldn't ask the government to take a back seat," he said.
Under the pan-blue camp's suggested clauses, all means of transportation from Taiwan or foreign countries would not need government approval to sail or fly across the Taiwan Strait. Only ships or planes from China would need approval to enter into restricted or prohibited waters or airspace in the Strait.
"I don't understand why the pan-blue camp wanted to cripple the government's authority to such an extent," said Chen, a former vice-chairman of Mainland Affairs Council.
Regarding one of the pan-blue camp's clauses, which would delete current regulations which ban foreign participation in cross-strait transportation routes, Chen said that foreign participation should be negotiable, but that the pan-blue camp shouldn't just eliminate the entire regulation.
Since offshore transshipment centers have been set up, the government has permitted foreign ships to navigate between Taiwan and China.
One of the concerns about lifting the ban on foreign participation in cross-strait transportation routes is that foreign carriers might receive better treatment than local companies, the Mainland Affairs Council said in its recent statement released to oppose the pan-blue camp's proposed amendments.
"Such concerns show that the handling of opening cross-strait direct links is a highly complicated issue, and the pan-blue camp's [proposed amendments] are just too simple," said Alexander Huang (
The pan-blue camp has been frustrated at the government's unwillingness to deal with cross-strait links, Huang said, but hastily-drafted legislation is not a good way to address the problem.
"If the pan-blue camp fails to think of the possible consequences of opening direct links and find appropriate solutions ahead of the adoption of those draft clauses, they will have to face the problems when they take power in the future," he said.
Meanwhile, Lin Wen-cheng (
Lin said that setting a three-month deadline for the government to implement the policy would only make the government lose bargaining power when negotiating with Beijing.
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