Kinmen, Aug. 28 (CNA) Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tung on Monday urged mainland Chinese authorities to return to the negotiating table to resume the long-stalled cross-strait dialogue, beginning with talks on the "mini three direct links."
Chen said the government is taking a positive stance on the implementation of the so-called "mini three direct links" -- direct trade, shipping and communications links between the Republic of China's offshore islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu with mainland China -- and concrete plans are expected to be put on the drawing-board in the near future.
It is hoped that mainland Chinese officials and experts will join their Taiwan counterparts for talks on details pertaining to the "mini direct links," since the matter is of profound importance to the development of cross-strait relations, Chen noted.
Chen urged mainland authorities and experts to "sit and talk" with their Taiwan counterparts on the "mini links" so as to rebuild a mechanism of interaction and pave the way for resuming the cross-strait dialogue, which was unilaterally suspended by Beijing in July 1999 after then-President Lee Teng-hui redefined the Taiwan-mainland China relations as "special state-to-state" relations.
Chen continued by saying that Taiwan's national security will remain the top concern when the "mini links" are considered. As for other issues involving trade, shipping, finance and communications with the mainland, participation by experts and personnel from both sides of the Taiwan Strait is needed, so as to jointly work them out.
He made the remarks during a hearing hosted by Kuomintang Legislator Chen Ching-pao in Kinmen Monday.
Chen, who represents the frontline outpost area of Kinmen, warned that if the "mini links" plans are not well planned, the impact on Kinmen and Taiwan will be irreversible.
The legislator singled out several matters as his major concerns about the proposed "mini links," including the misgivings of Kinmen residents aged above 60 who bitterly remember when mainland Chinese pirates sailed across the "narrow ditch" from the mainland to Kinmen to rob and loot in Kinmen decades ago.
He also noted that cheap and abundant mainland laborers may take employment opportunities away from Kinmen residents once the "mini links" are open.
Three major topics are expected to be discussed at the Kinmen hearing over the next three days -- how to develop Kinmen into a duty-free shopping paradise, how to build Kinmen into a recreation park on the sea, and how to develop Kinmen into a special zone for business and trade.
Relevant officials from the Cabinet-level MAC, the Ministry of Finance and the Council for Economic Planning and Development have flown to Kinmen for the hearing. (By Deborah Kuo)
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