The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Saturday announced it would assign personnel to work at a local service center in Kinmen County to promote cross-strait ties.
“[The move] signifies that the government is 100 percent committed to promoting healthy cross-strait exchanges,” SEF Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said at a service inauguration ceremony.
Starting on Saturday, personnel from the SEF would be stationed at a local service center in Kinmen to handle ferry-related services between the county and the nearby Chinese city of Xiamen, Luo said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Cross-strait ferry services, part of the “small three links” that cover direct trade, postal and transportation exchanges between limited administrative areas of Taiwan and China, were resumed in January last year after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supervised by the Mainland Affairs Council, the SEF is a semi-official organization set up by the government to handle technical matters with China.
“Resuming equal and reciprocal cross-strait exchanges has always been a policy promoted by the Taiwanese government,” Luo said, citing his planned attendance at a relay swimming competition from Xiamen to Kinmen yesterday as an example.
Luo said he hopes that the SEF’s new operations could encourage a positive response from Beijing, adding that “if goodwill continues to be extended but remains unanswered, it would be a pity if the opportunity is missed.”
He also commented on China’s detention of a Taiwanese noncommissioned officer earlier this year, saying he expects the serviceman’s safe return.
The 25-year-old officer, who was part of the Kinmen Garrison Brigade, was rescued by the China Coast Guard after drifting into Chinese waters off its Fujian Province during a fishing trip in March. He has since been held due to his “sensitive status” as an active-duty soldier.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on June 26 said that the officer is in good health and “related issues will be properly handled by the relevant departments.”
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