KMT vows to push for direct cross-strait links

The legislators expressed the hope that a cross-strait direct transportation links referendum can be held in tandem with the presidential election slated to take place next year.

KMT legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has led Taiwan nowhere in terms of economic development and diplomatic achievement since it took power seven years ago.

Taiwan will fall even lower should the DPP be allowed to continue to rule the country based only on ideology, Hsu claimed.

Hsu added that the KMT believes opening direct cross-strait transport links is pragmatic and conducive to Taiwan's economic development, prompting the main opposition party to push for a national referendum on the issue.

KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung said opening the links would undoubtedly benefit Taiwan's domestic economy, adding that the DPP is sticking its head in the sand by opposing the passage of an amendment to a statute to pave the way for direct links, while being unable to rev up the flagging domestic economy.

KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng said the KMT is not aiming at entering a "referendum race" with the DPP by putting forth the cross-strait links referendum plan to challenge a referendum plan on retrieving the KMT's ill-gotten assets proposed by the DPP.

Wu claimed that the Taiwan people are able enough to decide in referendums whether they prefer economic progress to "political word games."

KMT Legislator Lo Shih-hsiung noted that Kaohsiung Harbor's container handling capacity ranked third in the world when the KMT was running the country, but has fallen to sixth since Taiwan has been in the hands of the DPP.

He lamented that an amendment to a free trade harbor zone bill proposed by him to pave the way for China-originating semi-finished products to be processed in Taiwan's free trade harbor zones for re-export was boycotted by DPP lawmakers.

Also commenting on the KMT's intention to push for a cross-strait links referendum, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng -- formerly a KMT vice chairman -- said the KMT and the DPP have equal rights to push for the implementation of referendums on major issues concerning the people's rights and welfare, so long as they can muster enough signatures to pass the threshold of requirement for a referendum to take place.

Wang added, however, that a final decision on the opening of direct transport links would be a matter for the governments on the two sides of the strait and would require meetings and negotiations.

Meanwhile, Wang Hsin-nan, a whip of the ruling DPP legislative caucus, told the KMT not to "fool the Taiwan people" by playing with a referendum plan.

According to Wang, the DPP administration could announce in 24 hours Taiwan's opening of direct links with China without holding a nationwide referendum should the KMT and the Taiwan people accept the notion defined by Beijing that Taiwan-China air and shipping links are part of China's domestic routes and that Taiwan is part of the territory of the People's Republic of China.