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No expansion of small three links planned: MAC

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday denied reports that the government was ready to give a green light to the expansion of the small three links.

"The news report is total nonsense," he said at the Legislative Yuan.

Chen said it was true the government was mulling over the possibility of upgrading the links that connect Kinmen and Matsu to Fujian, China, no decision had been made or date set for such an expansion.

Chen came under fire last week when pan-blue legislators criticized him for failing to arrange direct charter flights between Taiwan and China prior to the March 22 presidential election.

There had been suggestions that the charter flights arranged for Tomb-sweeping Day be moved forward one week from March 28 to March 20 to allow Taiwanese residing in China to return home to vote.

The pan-blue camp accused the MAC chairman of purposely blocking Taiwanese businesspeople from returning home to cast their ballots -- an accusation that Chen vehemently denied again yesterday morning.

"Any talks of direct-flights must involve Beijing. Taiwan cannot just arbitrarily move up the direct-flight dates with first consulting China," he said.

It is rumored that at least 1 million Taiwanese businesspeople plan to vote for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) if they can return home in time to vote.
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