Taiwan Authorities Urged to Consider Seriously Again on "Three Links"

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 09, 2002

Taiwan Authorities Urged to Consider Seriously Again on "Three Links"

The Taiwan authorities are urged to consider seriously again the suggestions by China's mainland in which the "three links" and the economic and trade relations across the Straits will be taken as China's internal affairs, expressed Tang Shubei, Director of the Research Center on the Relations Across the Straits and President of the Publishing House of the "Magazine of Relations Across the Straits" at the "Symposium on the WTO and the Economic and Trade Relations across the Straits". And it is hoped that they are going to be handled among the people across the Straits and solved from trades to trades and enterprises to enterprises at the juncture for the two sides to have joined the WTO.

After the two sides joined the WTO one after another, and along with the further development of the economic and trade relations across the Straits, it is quite necessary for the two sides to have an equal consultation on how to handle the economic and trade affairs and the relevant problems. These problems include: the impact of agricultural produces imported from China's mainland on the Taiwan agricultural production and the requirement for strengthening the economic cooperation when confronted with the economic globalization and regional tendency. All these require the two sides to work out a solution acceptable for both sides, that will benefit the interest of the compatriots across the Straits, said Tang Shubei.

He pointed out, in view of the fact that the Taiwan Authorities have so far not been willing to accept explicitly the "One China" principle nor to recognize the "92 Consensus" the consultation mechanism can not be set in motion between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Strait Exchange Foundation. Due to the sincerity for solving problems through consultation, China's mainland is still making positive efforts for it. And it has put forward long ago that the "three links" can be set in motion as early as possible by way of handling among the people, from trades to trades and enterprises to enterprises provided the Taiwan Authority take them as an internal affair. However, with the two sides joining the WTO one in wake of the other the Taiwan Authority said the problem for the "Three Links" would be talked over in the WTO.

Tang expressed clearly that, as known to everybody, it is very clear to indicate from the name and order for Taiwan to join the WTO that it was accepted as an independent tariff area of China. Therefore, when the two sides joined the WTO one after the other the economic and trade relations across the Straits remain unchanged between China as main body and Taiwan, its independent tariff area. The economic and trade affairs across the Straits remain the internal affairs to be handled through consultation within China itself.

The Taiwan authorities stated that it wanted to lay the economic and trade problems across the Straits onto the table of the WTO for discussion. This is actually a trick for bringing the internal affairs and political differences within a country into an international organization. About this, the units concerned on the part of China's mainland have already expressed their opposition explicitly and resolutely. Moreover, should such a problem as political differences across the Straits be brought to the WTO, an organization handling the international trades, investments for solution it will get nowhere but to increase perplexity among the member countries, rousing more misunderstanding as to the purposes of the Taiwan Authority.

Tang said: when explaining why Taiwan wanted to take the economic and trade problem into the WTO for discussion the official of the Taiwan authorities in charge of its policies towards the Chinese mainland stated, "The economy of Taiwan is not large as that of China's mainland in scale." "It is on the weak side in the relations across the Straits." "Should trade and investment be carried out only within the bilateral framework Taiwan's products and investments would be easily discriminated by the Chinese mainland" and so on and so forth. In this regard, Tang said the statement run absolutely contrary to the present situation in the economic and trade relations across the Straits. In fact China's mainland has so far approved over 50,000 Taiwan-funded enterprises to register and operate here on the mainland whereas Taiwan has endorsed none of mainland-capital to register there up to now. Taiwan enjoys, so to speak, a very big trade surplus in the economic and trade relations across the Straits. Nevertheless, it has so far banned some 3,500 items of industrial and agricultural products of the Chinese mainland from entering the Taiwan Province.

The fact has testified that there's absolutely no discrimination on the part of the Chinese mainland over Taiwan. On the contrary, it is the Taiwan Authority that is discriminating, if any, the investment and import of industrial and agricultural products of the Chinese mainland into Taiwan. As to the talks between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Strait Exchange Foundation it is established on the basis of the "92 Consensus" reached through consultation on an equal footing and the four signed agreements. This is also a fact known to everybody in the daylight.

By PD Online Staff Han Rongliang

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