Kinmen celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with the Chinese port city of Xiamen on Saturday with a symbolic handshake between officials from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and fireworks, in an event unprecedented in the past 50 years.
The display of harmony, however, belied the tensions that have bedeviled the relationships between Taipei and local governments, as well as Taiwan and China, ever since the "small three links" were established in January last year.
Such tensions were clearly highlighted last Tuesday as an unregistered civic group in Matsu signed a trade and commercial agreement with a delegation from Mawei (馬尾), Fujian Province, under the "one China" principle.
The Mainland Affairs Council says the group, which calls itself the Matsu Economic, Trade and Cultural Exchange Association (馬祖經貿文化交流聯誼會), appears to have violated regulations which ban individual Taiwanese or organizations from entering into agreements with Chinese citizens or organizations without first obtaining government approval.
"We sent our personnel to stop them from signing the agreement, but they still signed it anyway," said Jeff Yang, director of the council's department of legal affairs.
Civic organizations are also required to register with the Ministry of the Interior, which the Matsu group has apparently not done.
MAC officials have said an order to disband the group will be issued. Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) has also said that an investigation is underway into whether any public servant was involved with the agreement.
Matsu politicians, however, feel the council overreacted. They have stressed that cooperation between Matsu and Mawei could bring significant economic development, since the "small three links" appear to be ineffective.
PFP Legislator Tsao Yuan-jhang (
"There are great difficulties in communicating with the MAC. We signed the agreement for the people's good -- to help boost the economy. If the central government can't help the economy grow, why do we need such government?" Tsao said.
The lawmaker admitted that he was one of the people who signed the controversial agreement. He also said that Matsu Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (
No action against either man had been taken by the council as of press time yesterday.
The council said that the "one China" principle can't be tolerated, although it accepted that the Matsu government is eager to benefit from trade and commercial cooperation with China as a way to boost its sluggish economy.
Kinmen authorities, however, are pursuing a different strategy from their Matsu colleagues when it comes to cross-strait ties.
New Party Legislator Wu Cherng-dean (吳成典), who represents Kinmen, told the Taipei Times that though Kinmen authorities would like to see more exchanges with China, they would not sign any agreement that involved acceptance of the "one China" principle.
However, he added, "Oral agreements of a future `one China' are helpful to various forms of cross-strait cooperation, and they do not conflict with central government policies."
"Residents of Kinmen," said Lin Cheng-shih (林正士), a lecturer in business administration at the Kinmen branch of National Kaohsiung University of Applied Science, "definitely support the democratic political system in Taiwan, but in terms of economic affairs, we of course wish to benefit from the mainland."
Lin said that he believes that there is still scope for civil organizations in Kinmen to conduct exchanges or sign agreements with its nearest Chinese neighbor, Xiamen, without impinging on political disputes.
"Civil organizations are more flexible and will be more energetic in pushing for such matters than local or central governments," Lin said.
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