Taiwan rejects direct flights to China

[deez nuts]

TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -- Taiwan's cabinet has decided against allowing direct charter flights between Taipei and Shanghai, saying the security and social costs would outweigh any economic benefits.

But Taiwan airlines would be allowed to apply with mainland authorities to operate charter flights across the Taiwan Strait -- as long as they first make stopovers in Hong Kong or Macau to keep such flights indirect, said the Mainland Affairs Council, the island's top China policy making body.

The decision came as China criticized Taiwan for dragging its feet on a promise to lift a decades-old ban on direct trade, transport and postal links, commonly known as the three links.

http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/eas...reut/index.html (http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/12/taiwan.china.flights.reut/index.html)

[SunWuKong]

what a bunch of asswipes

oh well this will be good for HK

[kimpossible]

Nice.

They can ban all they want, cross straits business is still going to increase. It just makes it even more a pain in the ass.

[SunWuKong]

here's an editorial about it:

Machiavellian moves on Cross-Strait links
By Laurence Eyton

TAIPEI - Machiavelli once said that a statesman should never lack a good reason for breaking his word. Of course that reason didn't have to be true, just serviceable. Which is pretty much what lies behind Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's latest bizarre about-face concerning direct links across the Taiwan Strait.

Let us review the story so far. In 1949 Chiang Kai-shek's government, having fled to Taiwan, banned direct cross-Strait commerce, transportation and communications until it had successfully "reconquered the mainland".

After the lifting of martial law in 1988, Taiwan started to allow visits and commerce with China, but only via third countries.

After the Tiananmen incident in 1989, foreign interest in investing in China nose-dived. China went all-out to woo Taiwanese investors. And there began a relationship in which China has absorbed about US$100 billion of Taiwanese investment and now accounts for about 25 percent of Taiwan's exports, this year having overtaken the United States as Taiwan's biggest export market. The 1949 ban, however, is still in place.

The problem with lifting the ban is that each side of the Strait has overestimated the need of the other to get it lifted.



more... (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/DK09Ad02.html)

[mike4bmp]

Taiwan has always been very antagonistic toward any reconciliation with the PRC. Other "Dragon's of the East" cities have been smarter in dealing with China.....realizing that the PRC has been moving away from hardline communism (since Deng) using it's "Marxist/Leninist/Maosit" stance as just BS political postering for demarcation and intimidation purposes. All in all the Chinese politburo are just "Red emperors" sitting around waiting to reap what they've sown in the world's market economy.
-Mike

[SunWuKong]

first chen shui bian says that it's unacceptable for taiwan to accept the one-china policy before establishing direct links. ok then mainland made the concession that this was not necessary, putting the ball in taiwan's court. and now chen shui bian retreats further and simply say that they won't do direct links anyway.

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Nov 13 2002, 08:06 AM
first chen shui bian says that it's unacceptable for taiwan to accept the one-china policy before establishing direct links. ok then mainland made the concession that this was not necessary, putting the ball in taiwan's court. and now chen shui bian retreats further and simply say that they won't do direct links anyway.
I'd say that most ppl can't wait for election day but I doubt there's even a candidate that anyone wants. I don't know what the hell he's thinking. We cringe everytime he starts spouting off about separatism wondering if *this time* was enough to piss off the PRC and they're going to start cracking down on our mainland investments/operations.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Nov 13 2002, 11:26 AM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Nov 13 2002, 08:06 AM
first chen shui bian says that it's unacceptable for taiwan to accept the one-china policy before establishing direct links.  ok then mainland made the concession that this was not necessary, putting the ball in taiwan's court.  and now chen shui bian retreats further and simply say that they won't do direct links anyway.
I'd say that most ppl can't wait for election day but I doubt there's even a candidate that anyone wants. I don't know what the hell he's thinking. We cringe everytime he starts spouting off about separatism wondering if *this time* was enough to piss off the PRC and they're going to start cracking down on our mainland investments/operations.
i was talking to a couple of friends this weekend about the cross-straits issue. one of them is a HK boy like me and the other is a 1.5 gen girl from mainland. shit you have no idea how pissed off the girl is at chen shui bian.

but basically we agree that all this BS is just all politics. and just like those old guys at the top of CCP want to retain power, the same goes for the DPP, and that's why they don't want any talk of reunification, because they'd lose power.

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Nov 13 2002, 10:58 AM
but basically we agree that all this BS is just all politics. and just like those old guys at the top of CCP want to retain power, the same goes for the DPP, and that's why they don't want any talk of reunification, because they'd lose power.
Yes, but, historically the KMT held power. DPP in charge is a recent thing so I'm not sure how much power they'd be giving up in comparison to KMT. However, IIRC I think the KMT jetted with a ton of money. Or was just that Soong Mei-ling? hehe :D I'm not so sure that people were voting for DPP so much as they were voting anti-KMT. At the time the platform of Taiwan Independence sounded good to enough people. But now that he's proven himself to be an ineffectual shmuck and everyone's moving their investments to the mainland, that same platform is costing ppl money. And you don't screw with ppl's money.

A lot of ppl thought that voting in non-KMT would solve everything. Now that they've found out that the grass isn't any greener on the other side, I wonder how they're going to vote. I have no idea where any decent candidates are going to come from. Besides. Who the hell wants to run for office in Taiwan. If you lose you get beat down in the streets by your consituents.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Nov 13 2002, 11:19 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Nov 13 2002, 10:58 AM
but basically we agree that all this BS is just all politics.  and just like those old guys at the top of CCP want to retain power, the same goes for the DPP, and that's why they don't want any talk of reunification, because they'd lose power.
Yes, but, historically the KMT held power. DPP in charge is a recent thing so I'm not sure how much power they'd be giving up in comparison to KMT. However, IIRC I think the KMT jetted with a ton of money. Or was just that Soong Mei-ling? hehe :D I'm not so sure that people were voting for DPP so much as they were voting anti-KMT. At the time the platform of Taiwan Independence sounded good to enough people. But now that he's proven himself to be an ineffectual shmuck and everyone's moving their investments to the mainland, that same platform is costing ppl money. And you don't screw with ppl's money.

A lot of ppl thought that voting in non-KMT would solve everything. Now that they've found out that the grass isn't any greener on the other side, I wonder how they're going to vote. I have no idea where any decent candidates are going to come from. Besides. Who the hell wants to run for office in Taiwan. If you lose you get beat down in the streets by your consituents.
correct me if i'm wrong, but i think most taiwanese people just want the status quo on the reunification issue. i mean i'm pro-reunification, but hell, the KMT was very corrupt. it also happens to be the richest political party in the entire world. i wouldn't have voted for the KMT either.

i think the CCP just needs to continue cleaning up its act and market the idea of reunification to the taiwanese people.

[kimpossible]

A lot of people are split in opinion for a variety of reasons. Financially, they can't resist the opportunities on the mainland. As you and prolly most people know, a lot of the manufacturing that was in like 80s or 90s Taiwan has already transferred to the mainland. This doesn't mean that the people investing in the mainland don't have anti-mainland sentiment. Screwed up? Yeah, I guess but the allure of money is just as strong as fear or hatred of the PRC.

(Keep in mind this is processed by the mind of a foreigner as you read)

If I guess, I think a lot of people are split North/South. In Taipei you have a lot ppl that were born out of province that don't have too much problem with the KMT or at least aren't too interested in challenging the status quo. In the south you have families that have been in Taiwan for generations who are extremely anti-KMT.

Overall I would say that there is more anti-KMT feelings than anything else. I'm gauging that because even *I'm* suspicious of any KMT members (actually met one in the US) and I'm not Taiwanese. So, I must have been exposed to a lot of that in order to get those type of feelings without being aware of them.

I think part of the political problem is that the KMT was so corrupt that it's virtually impossible for any candidate to be able to dig him or herself out of the KMT legacy. But that's about where my understanding ends. I don't know much more about the government structurally. Just the history. Anyone else want to pitch in some other info?