“The Mainland Affairs Council will authorize the SEF to talk to [China] immediately after Chiang starts work,” Lai said when questioned by reporters after the media conference.
Meanwhile, the military said it hoped that Taoyuan and Kaohsiung airports would be the first to be opened to direct flights, and that Hualien and Taitung airports should be last.
“We have military facilities and deployments in Hualien and Taitung that should remain classified. We need more time to relocate them,” Air Force Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Wu Chien-hsing (吳健行) told the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee yesterday morning.
Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Chen-yi (林鎮夷) told lawmakers that the military had recommended careful re-evaluation of the plans to open the other six airports.
“China is still considered our main enemy, so we will not relax any security measures even if direct flights are allowed,” Lin said. “As a result we will also station more rapid-reaction troops at the eight airports.”
Wu said the military would request that the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) not allow charter flights to use regular domestic routes for safety reasons.
The Air Force said that it would require daily updated flight information about the charter flights from the CAA so that anti-aircraft batteries would be able to distinguish between potential enemy planes and regular civilian flights.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
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