Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said that cross-strait relations will be negatively influenced if the Chinese Nationalist Party and People First Party do well in tomorrow's elections.
Wu made the remarks in the wake of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) remarks that the government will tighten cross-strait economic policy should the pan-blue camp win. Chen made the comments on Wednesday while campaigning for former minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), who is running for Ilan county commissioner.
As Chen's remarks appeared to contradict earlier statements given by the government, which said it will lift the ban on industries such as 0.18-micron-wafer fabrication facilities, semiconductor testing and packaging service suppliers and small LCD panels, and allow them to move to China. Wu moved yesterday to clarify the president's comments.
MAC said that the government will stick to its previously stated position, that is, it will review the ban. Wu added that the second Economic Development Advisory Conference to be held in January would be the ideal opportunity to reach a consensus on the review.
Wu explained of Chen's comments while attending a forum on the relation between cross-strait affairs and tomorrow's elections.
"Look at the results of last year's legislative elections. The pan-blue camp won those, and cross-strait relations have regressed since then," Wu said.
Wu blamed the regression on China's enactment of the "Anti-Secession Law" in March that authorizes the use of force against Taiwan and China's united front strategy of being friendly with the opposition parties -- by inviting opposition leaders to China in the first half of the year and avoiding having talks with Taiwan's popularly elected government.
He said that the cross-strait situation didn't get any better until the latter half of the year.
"If the pan-blues win in these elections, the opposition will be encouraged and will probably impose more boycotts on the government, which will have a harmful effect on the normalization of cross-strait relations," Wu said.
Wu then restated that it is the government's position to improve cross-strait relations, saying that the government will continue pursuing negotiations on the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists and direct cargo and passengers charter flights.
He said that the threat of China's military and its diplomatic oppression of Taiwan are the main obstacles to improving relations.
"Given these obstacles, many outstanding issues, such as providing protection for China-based Taiwanese businessmen, anti-crime operations and the conversion mechanism between the two currencies need the cooperation of both sides. We look forward to talking with China about these issues," Wu said.
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