The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) attacked the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s handling of cross-strait talks, claiming that its rush to deliver President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign pledge on weekend passenger charter flights and Chinese tourism has ignored a more important need — regular cargo charter flights for Taiwan’s high-tech industry.
Lin Chen-wei (林成蔚), director of the DPP’s International Affairs Department, made the comments came one day after Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said that when Taiwan and China resume cross-strait talks on June 12, the aim will be to complete consultations on the two issues by July.
Launching cross-strait cargo and passenger charter flights and opening up Taiwan to Chinese tourists were treated as a package by the former DPP government when it began talks with Beijing through civil groups in July 2005.
But the KMT government has delinked cargo charter flights from the passenger flights and Chinese tourism, which Ma had said would commence on July 4.
In a letter from China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait to the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Thursday, Beijing said it accepted Taiwan’s invitation to hold cross-strait negotiation on weekend passenger charter flights and opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists. It invited SEF representatives to visit Beijing from June 11 to June 14.
Lin said the KMT government had given up its right to set the agenda for resuming talks, which had led to the cargo charter flight issue being excluded from the talks.
“President Ma should clearly explain why the cargo charter flights service was not included in the upcoming negotiations,” Lin said.
“The KMT let Beijing completely dominate the resumption of the official cross-strait talks just so that Ma’s promise could come true on July 4,” he said.
Lin, who served as a member of the National Security Council’s Advisory Committee under the DPP government, said the DPP administration had linked cargo charter flights with passenger charters and Chinese tourism because Beijing had been refusing to give ground on cargo charters.
China does not want to launch cross-strait cargo charter flights services now because Taiwan excels in air cargo while China is still building its air cargo fleet and equipment capacity, so it does not want to see Taiwanese firms gain a monopoly in the sector, Lin said.
The cargo charter flight service is what China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and foreign businesspeople in Taiwan, especially those in the high-tech industries, “desperately need” because such service would reduce transportation costs and facilitate logistics, Lin said.
The KMT government should clearly explain whether the rights of Taiwanese companies would be sacrificed in its rush to fulfill Ma’s campaign pledges, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS