“Correct” cross-strait policies could present development opportunities for Kinmen, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday while inspecting the “small three links” operations on the island.
The “small three links” framework, established in 2001, permits limited postal, transport and trade links between several port cities in China’s Fujian Province and Kinmen and Matsu, both of which lie closer to China than to Taiwan proper.
Lai said the increased cargo and passenger traffic through Kinmen Airport were the direct results of the opening of cross-strait relations.
Photo: CNA
Lai said she was pleased to learn that the implementation of the “small three links” framework helped boost passenger traffic at the airport over the past three years to more than 1.5 million people a year, resulting in a raising of the airport’s domestic ranking, which is based on passenger traffic.
She was also happy with construction projects at the airport, which have been underway since 2009.
With further adjustments and liberalization of cross-strait policies taking place, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has told the Central Personnel Administration to increase customs, immigration, quarantine and security personnel at airports and seaports to provide better services, Lai said.
Lai said she would also host a discussion with Kinmen officials at National Quemoy University, in which she would hear local representatives’ suggestions on “small three links” policies and cross-strait exchanges.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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