New Party lawmaker and vice presidential candidate Elmer Feng (
His comments came a day after the return of Kuo Tai-sheng (
"What has the KMT done to secure their release?" Feng asked, adding that President Lee Teng-hui's (
Officials from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) had previously tried to coordinate the release of the seamen in coordination with its Beijing counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS). But the seizure occurred after Lee's "state-to-state" remarks had soured relations between the two sides.
The SEF sent several letters to ARATS regarding the men's detention, but received little information in return.
New Party officials have taken special interest in the case, and have sent a number of delegations to China to talk with officials and appeal for the crew's release.
Feng dismissed the cross-strait policies of both KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰) and the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), while positioning the New Party as the only party able to "replace resistance [to China] with dialogue."
The Kaohsiung-registered Shin Hwa was scheduled to arrive in Tungyin (東引), an islet along the east coast of Matsu last July when it was detained by Chinese authorities and towed to a port in Fujian.
The vessel was en route to deliver 700 tonnes of supplies to Matsu -- some of it for military use -- ?when it was seized on charges of smuggling.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said it had contracted the Shin Hwa to deliver goods including rice, gasoline and cooking oil, and that there were no military documents or personnel on board.
Eight crew members were released in December, but Kuo and Chen remained under detention.
Kuo told reporters yesterday that they were released because the Chinese authorities did not file any charges against them.
"The way they handled the case seemed kind of absurd. We had no idea why we were detained and they did not explain the situation to us. Then we are let off -- just like that," Kuo said.
Feng accused the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of obstructing the New Party's efforts in securing the seamen's release.
"While we were trying to secure their release, the government was saying unnecessary, provocative things to upset Beijing," Feng said.
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