The Ministry of Transport and Communications (交通部) is prepared to implement "small three links" with China as soon as the new Cabinet approves the measure, the agency's incoming head, Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), said yesterday.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Taiwan Unified Alliance (
"As soon as a decision is made on the issue, the ministry will be ready to implement the policy," Yeh said.
The opening of the "small three links" was approved by the Legislature after the presidential election and allows for direct trade, transport and communication links between Taiwan's outlying islands of Matsu, Penghu and Kinmen and China.
While the legislature has passed the Outlying Islands Development Act, effectively opening the links, the Cabinet has held off on signing the act into law, leaving the final decision to the incoming administration.
Kinmen lawmaker Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶) proposed a variation of the plan, suggesting the incoming minister consider what he described as a "breakthrough" concept that would bring lasting peace between the two sides.
"A bridge could be built between the two islands of Kinmen and then on to Xiamen," Chen said. "Across this bridge, cross-strait ties could improve."
Although Chen's bid to pass the proposal for a bridge to Xiamen failed last year in the Legislature, he reiterated his belief that the physical link could facilitate peace across the Taiwan Strait.
"From the initial planning stage of the Kinmen-Xiamen bridge, lasting cross-strait peace would slowly begin to grow," Chen said.
Chen supported the proposal to open "small three links" and agreed that it would likely help bring peace across the Taiwan Strait, but that implementation was still some way off.
"The most likely method of opening up links to China would be through the `small three links' model, but the plan will still require much more work and, in the short-term, it is unclear how far the new Cabinet can develop such a plan," Chen said.
Yeh responded by saying that such a plan would be of "even greater significance" than just simply opening the links, and a decision was not the transportation ministry's to make.
In announcing the ministry's readiness to implement the new cross-strait policy, Yeh made it clear that the ministry was not in the business of deciding policy matters for the new government, but instead is simply the working arm of the new administration when it comes to transportation and communications issues.
"The ministry implements policy, it does not decide on it," she said.
Yeh's comments follows President-elect Chen Shui-bian's (
Indeed, Chen publicly rebuffed incoming Minister of Finance Shea Jia-dong's (
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS