Wed, May 17, 2000 page4

• Incoming MAC chief says `small three links' a priority

  • By William Ide / STAFF REPORTER
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  Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the chairperson-designate of the Mainland Affairs Council, said yesterday that the possibility of direct links for religious purposes would be one of the first issues the new government would handle.

  "This deserves to be resolved and should be resolved; it will be a priority matter," Tsai said.

  Tsai made her comments yesterday while having lunch with members of the Taiwan Unified Alliance (台聯會), which includes KMT and People First Party lawmakers.

  Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶), a Kinmen lawmaker, had urged Tsai to consider allowing worshippers of the goddess Matsu to travel directly to her legendary birthplace, Fujian Province's Meizhou Island, making a brief stop off in Kinmen.

  Chen suggested that worshippers could make the trip under the auspices of a recently-passed law called the Outlying Islands Development Act or "small three links." The law was passed shortly after the presidential election and allows for direct links between Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu and China.

  While the necessary details of the law have yet to be hammered out, worshippers of the goddess have called on the government to consider their travel to China as a special case.

  Every year nearly 100,000 worshippers travel to Meizhou, but because of the ban on direct links, to get there legally they must pass through Hong Kong or travel on cruise boats which follow the same indirect course.

  Chen said that if President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) put his support behind the measure then Chen would support all of the president's policies in the legislature.

  "If A-bian supports this, I would support his policies 100 percent," Chen said.

  China has already approved of the possible direct travel of Taiwan worshippers to Meizhou, he added. Some reports have said that new docks have been built especially for the arrival of a large number of worshippers who are expected to arrive this year.

  Such a measure, if treated as a special case, could have a positive impact on relations, Chen said.

  Tsai agreed that the measure could be useful for promoting relations and said that she admired the worshippers who sometimes take the now illegal and risky direct trip across the Strait in small fishing boats.

  "I respect their devotion; it is very dangerous. We should give this special consideration," Tsai said.

  However, Tsai was unwilling to promise that worshippers could travel to Meizhou in June.

  "I will look into the details," Tsai said, "but right now it's hard to know when we might be able to make the trip."

  Worshippers at Chenlan Temple in Taichung County's Tachia township, have already begun to make preparations for a direct trip to Meizhou with a brief stop in Kinmen. The voyage would be made under the direction of the head of the temple, Yen Ching-piao (顏清標).

  Yen, also the Taichung County speaker, has negotiated a contract with a Singapore cruise company and expects to take some 7,000 worshippers to China.

  If the application is approved, the trip would be the first legal, direct passage of a vessel across the Taiwan Strait since 1949.
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