Before direct transportation links across the Strait are opened, indirect charter flights can serve as an interim measure to bring Taiwanese businesspeople home from China for the Lunar New Year, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday.
Yu made the comment in the legislature to clarify the government's position on the matter.
"To have direct flights, governments on both sides must first sit down and talk over various concerns," the premier said in response to questions from PFP lawmakers Lin Hui-kuan (
"[If these talks do not take place,] who would take responsibility should disputes arise from such exchanges?" Yu said.
The two PFP legislators repeated calls for the government to allow direct cross-strait charter flights to ferry China-based Taiwanese bus-inesspeople home between late January and early February.
The Cabinet has agreed to such travel on condition that the chartered planes, which will be from domestic airlines, stop over in Hong Kong or Macau.
Lin urged Yu to scrap the transit stops, saying they make the proposed flights no different from existing air travel across the Strait.
Currently, passengers must stop over in Hong Kong or Macau for 30 minutes and they needn't change planes.
But the premier insisted government-to-government talks must take place before the stopovers can be scrapped.
"The welfare of 23 million people in Taiwan outweighs that of Taiwanese businesspeople in China," he said. "Before the two sides resume dialogue, indirect charter flights emerge as the interim answer to their needs."
Yu declined to give an answer on whether charter flights would be extended to other holidays such as Tomb-sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Moon Festival.
"That will depend on future developments," Yu said.
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