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Technical Issues Solved; Political Hurdles Remain
Participants of the seminar on cross-Straits oceanic transportation agreed on Tuesday that the mainland and Taiwan should open direct transportation links as soon as possible.
The announcement, released at the closing ceremony of the seminar, was the result of three days of heated discussions among shipping businessmen, experts and officials from both sides of the Taiwan Straits.
The upcoming entry to the World Trade Organization for both sides of the Straits is a good opportunity to push forward direct links between the two, the announcement said. It will help the mainland and Taiwan to receive better benefits from the world economy.
Under current circumstances, technical issues of the direct links have been mostly resolved, and the two sides could open direct transportation in a short period of time, as long as the political hindrance was removed.
The announcement urged Taiwan authorities to drop its restriction towards ships from the mainland, and open Taichung and Keelong ports to mainland ship carriers from all directions.
It also asked the mainland to open all ports from Shanghai to Shenzhen as the destination of cross-Strait transportation for Taiwan businessmen.
The seminar's participants suggested the establishment of several special working teams to speed up discussions on some technical issues, such as the prevention of water pollution in Taiwan Straits, disaster relief, the selection of flags and advanced technical researches.
T.H. Chen, chairman of Taiwan Strait Shipping Association, who was selected to release the announcement, said he could clearly feel the participants' desire to open direct links.
"To open direct transportation is at the interests of the whole of Chinese. No one could hold such a trend back," Chen said.
Hu Hanxiang, president of Beijing-based Association for Shipping Across the Taiwan Straits, said he hopes Taiwan authorities could respect the willingness of the people, and adopt concrete measures to push cross-Straits direct transportation.
Many Taiwan participants promised to push Taiwan authorities to speed up the process.
Cheng Longshui and Wang Touh, both Taiwanese legislators, expressed desire to push the direct transportation link across the Taiwan Straits.
"As long as it benefits Chinese people from both sides, I will do my part to get it realized," Cheng said.
Wang said he would do his best to push the relations of both sides, including their joint support of the direct link.
Some businessmen and experts are not so optimistic towards early direct transportation.
Y.S. Chen, a ship businessman from Taiwan's Kaohsiung, said he would wait-and-see before making an investment in the mainland.
Though he hopes the direct link could be completed at an early date, he said the political issue might stand in the way.
He aims to visit several ports in South China after the seminar, to gather information for future investment.
Li Fei, professor from Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, said that Taiwan might still block the direct link with political pretexts.
"But Taiwan authority should understand that Taiwan's economic development could not last without that of the mainland's -- the world's most prosperous economy," Li said.
Source: China Daily
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