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KMT-China forum hampering talks: MAC

A cross-strait meeting between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not helping resolve problems, but rather hampering the official negotiation process, a senior China policymaker said yesterday.

Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said the trade enhancement forum attended by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and the CCP was only impeding the government's negotiation effort.

"We hope Beijing doesn't avoid talking to the Taiwanese government because only government-to-government negotiations can resolve the problem," he said at one of the sessions organized by the Ketagalan Institute to discuss cross-strait trade and energy policies and the development of the energy industry.

Despite calls to allow more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, the head of the Council of Economic Planning and Development, Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), said that more Chinese tourists would not necessarily boost the economy.

If the government allows 1,000 Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan per day, and each tourist spends US$1,000 during the trip, the nation would earn US$36 billion per year, she said, adding that this represented only 0.1 percent of GDP.

"Allowing more Chinese tourists is not a panacea to the local economy," she said. "We must rely on ourselves. The service sector and manufacturing industry are the key."

The Taiwan Futures Exchange Chairman and former vice premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) echoed her statement.

"Allowing more Chinese tourists might help the economy a little, but what comes with it is a negative impact on society," he said. "We are not in a hurry to let more Chinese tourists come here and we don't need them to support us even if we are badly off."

In an afternoon session addressing the allocation of social resources and social welfare in a globalized world, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chien Hsi-chieh proposed to cut the defense budget and instead improve social welfare.

Chien was a leading figure in the campaign led by former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) last year calling for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to resign

He said the DPP's politics were center-left when it was founded and that one of its goals was to build a "Sweden in the East."

Building a state like Sweden requires high tax revenue, Chien said.

Chien said cutting military spending, making Taiwan relatively weak, would make China's military aggression look all the worse in the international community.

"Only by appealing to the common welfare can we unite the people," he said. "That is the best national defense."
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