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Hou proposes turning Kinmen into cross-strait economic pilot zone

ROC Central News Agency

08/22/2023 05:07 PM

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Main opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) 2024 presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) on Tuesday proposed to turn the offshore frontline island of Kinmen into a cross-Taiwan Strait economic pilot zone and a transportation hub to help facilitate peaceful exchanges between Taiwan and China.

During a trip to Kinmen, which lies less than 10 kilometers off the southeast coast of China, the New Taipei Mayor said turning Kinmen into an economic pilot zone that offers tax incentives would help attract Chinese investment into the island county.

He also pledged to enhance the quality of major ports in Kinmen and to increase the frequency of flights in and out of Kinmen to make the economic pilot zone possible.

Hou also proposed that Kinmen form a medical and healthcare hub to not only solve the longstanding problem of a lack of medical resources on the island but to also make Kinmen a destination for Chinese medical tourists.

Meanwhile, the KMT candidate proposed to start importing electricity and natural gas from China's Fujian Province in order to ensure supply.

This comes after Kinmen began importing water from China's Jinjiang City in 2018, he added.

Regarding the controversial issue of the wish of some Kinmen residents to construct a bridge linking Kinmen and China's Xiamen City, Hou said he is open to all opinions and has full respect for Kinmen residents who are planning to hold a referendum vote on the issue.

Hou stressed that his support of a referendum, and importing electricity and natural gas from China rely on the condition that doing so will not have negative impact on Taiwan's national security.

The proposal for a Kinmen-Xiaman Bridge has previously being criticized by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, which says the bridge could pose a national security risk to Taiwan should China invade.

Hou arrived in Kinmen on Tuesday afternoon, a day before the 65th anniversary of the Aug. 23 Artillery Bombardment of the outlying island county in 1958, a key battle that marked the beginning of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.

On Aug. 23, 1958, nine years after the Republic of China (ROC) government relocated from mainland China to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war, Chinese communist forces launched an attack on the ROC-held Kinmen island.

Over the next 44 days, 475,000 artillery shells were fired at Kinmen in an attempt to take over the island, but ROC forces on the island held firm against the Chinese bombardment, according to Taiwan's historical records.

In his Kinmen press briefing, Hou thanked Kinmen's people for standing on the frontline of defending the ROC from Chinese invasion 65 years ago.

The ROC's prosperity and democracy will forever be indebted to the contributions of Kinmen residents, he said.

He reiterated his support for a version of the "1992 consensus" that conforms with the ROC Constitution, without elaborating, and said that he will try to reopen dialogue with China on equal footing to prevent a cross-strait war from breaking out because "there can be no losers in peace and no victors in war."

According to the KMT, the "1992 consensus," reached in a 1992 meeting between the two sides during a KMT administration headed by former ROC President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), refers to a tacit understanding that both sides recognize there is only "one China," with each having its own interpretation of what China means.

Beijing has never formally endorsed this stance, officially maintaining that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part, and that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legitimate representative.

The PRC shut down its official communication channel with the ROC after the DPP government came to power in May 2016 and has refused to accept the "1992 consensus."

The DPP has refused to accept the "1992 consensus" on the grounds that Beijing has never acknowledged the ROC's existence and that agreeing to the consensus implies acceptance of China's claim over Taiwan.

(By Joseph Yeh)

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