The Mainland Affairs Council moved to temporarily suspend the "small three links" yesterday in response to Kinmen residents' growing concern over the spread of SARS.
The council reached the decision after Kinmen County Council asked the central government on Thursday for permission to halt direct links -- for one month -- between Kinmen and the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou.
"In an effort to attend to Kinmen residents' concern, the council, after deliberating the issue with other government agencies, had decided to suspend Kinmen's small three links with China," said council Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳)
"The suspension of Kinmen's small three links is effective immediately," Liu said. "The suspension will be lifted at a time we deem appropriate, pending the SARS situation."
Administrative procedures for permission to use the links, however, will remain in operation.
Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽), who had not been keen on the idea of a temporary suspension when the Kinmen County Council first made the request to the Kinmen County Government in late March, said on Thursday that he fully supported the council's resolution to halt the links in a bid to curb the spread of SARS
Kinmen's first reported SARS case occurred this week. A 42-year-old women, who had flown from Taipei to Kinmen on May 2 to attend a family funeral, fell ill on May 6 and died of SARS on Wednesday.
The small three links were initiated in January 2001 to allow trade and transportation links between Kinmen and Lienchiang County and China's Fujian Province.
Fujian is next to Guangdong Province, where most SARS cases in China have been reported and where the SARS outbreak is believed to have originated.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he
RSS