Plans to link Kinmen County and China’s Xiamen with a bridge raise too many national security concerns to consider putting it to a referendum, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday, after the Chinese Nationalist Party’s presidential candidate backed the idea in a speech on the outlying county.
DPP caucus director Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that most Taiwanese believe there are too many national security risks regarding New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi’s (侯友宜) plan to hold a referendum on building the so-called “Kinmen-Xiamen Peace Bridge.”
“If someone says this project would raise no national security concerns, they are lying,” Liu said. “Hou is defrauding people for votes.”
.Photo: CNA
“If the bridge project is feasible, it would have been completed during the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT, as he always claimed he was the best person to communicate with the Chinese government,” she said.
“Hou must inform the public about the national security issues that would be raised by the project,” she said. “He has evaded such questions, despite the worries and misgivings of the public.”
“As a presidential candidate, Hou must not gloss over these issues,” Liu said.
She added that a referendum on the issue could not be left to Kinmen.
“Building a bridge linking Kinmen and Xiamen city would have implications for the entire nation’s national security, so it could not be a local referendum for Kinmen County residents alone,” Liu said.
Hou earlier yesterday presented his “six major programs” at an event in the county, saying that if elected president, he would support a referendum in Kinmen on the bridge plan, as well as approve plans to build electricity and natural gas connections to Xiamen.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that Hou’s proposals were clearly to abide by the policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), which would lead to the eventual takeover of Taiwan by China.
Xi on Jan. 2, 2019, proposed the “new four links” plan to supply Kinmen with “water, electricity, natural gas for fuel and a bridge connecting to Xiamen,” Chuang said.
That was part of a major policy address by Xi on his blueprint for cross-Strait development based on the “one country, two systems” model, he said.
Hou earlier said that Xiamen supplying electricity and natural gas would be good for the long-term economic development of Kinmen.
If there are no national security concerns, he would launch negotiations between the governments of Taiwan and China, he said.
If a referendum garnered the approval of a majority of Kinmen residents, he would initiate studies on the feasibility and economic benefits of a bridge link, if he added.
A proposal from a few years ago said that a bridge of 6km to 11km, depending on the route, would cost up to NT$13.2 billion (US$413.46 million at the current exchange rate).
Meanwhile, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) backed the bridge plan.
“It is a good plan, which is why other people have also proposed it,” he said, apparently referring to himself, as he has previously pushed for such a connection.
“It is certainly feasible — and it would be beneficial to have a bridge up and running, along with links for water, electricity and natural gas, as well an improvement to garbage disposal for Kinmen,” Ko said.
“I am certain that a referendum, if it could be held, would be backed by local voters,” he said.
“Kinmen County is a good place to operate a pilot economic zone, to test whether Taiwan and China can cooperate,” he said.
Xiamen is close to Kinmen, so it would be the best place to test a “cross-Strait peace zone,” where the governments of Taiwan and China could deal with each other,” Ko added.
Kinmen County is a few kilometers from Xiamen.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by