Tsai Ing-wen (
"This deserves to be resolved and should be resolved; it will be a priority matter," Tsai said.
Tsai made her comments yesterday while having lunch with members of the Taiwan Unified Alliance (台聯會), which includes KMT and People First Party lawmakers.
Chen Ching-pao (
Chen suggested that worshippers could make the trip under the auspices of a recently-passed law called the Outlying Islands Development Act or "small three links." The law was passed shortly after the presidential election and allows for direct links between Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu and China.
While the necessary details of the law have yet to be hammered out, worshippers of the goddess have called on the government to consider their travel to China as a special case.
Every year nearly 100,000 worshippers travel to Meizhou, but because of the ban on direct links, to get there legally they must pass through Hong Kong or travel on cruise boats which follow the same indirect course.
Chen said that if President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) put his support behind the measure then Chen would support all of the president's policies in the legislature.
"If A-bian supports this, I would support his policies 100 percent," Chen said.
China has already approved of the possible direct travel of Taiwan worshippers to Meizhou, he added. Some reports have said that new docks have been built especially for the arrival of a large number of worshippers who are expected to arrive this year.
Such a measure, if treated as a special case, could have a positive impact on relations, Chen said.
Tsai agreed that the measure could be useful for promoting relations and said that she admired the worshippers who sometimes take the now illegal and risky direct trip across the Strait in small fishing boats.
"I respect their devotion; it is very dangerous. We should give this special consideration," Tsai said.
However, Tsai was unwilling to promise that worshippers could travel to Meizhou in June.
"I will look into the details," Tsai said, "but right now it's hard to know when we might be able to make the trip."
Worshippers at Chenlan Temple in Taichung County's Tachia township, have already begun to make preparations for a direct trip to Meizhou with a brief stop in Kinmen. The voyage would be made under the direction of the head of the temple, Yen Ching-piao (顏清標).
Yen, also the Taichung County speaker, has negotiated a contract with a Singapore cruise company and expects to take some 7,000 worshippers to China.
If the application is approved, the trip would be the first legal, direct passage of a vessel across the Taiwan Strait since 1949.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,