Scholars take 'mini three links' route

The 12-member group, headed by Jan Berris, vice president of the New York-based think tank National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR), just concluded a weeklong visit to China that took it to Beijing, Changsha and Xiamen.

Berris said her group chose the maritime travel route in an attempt to get first-hand information about the “mini three links” ferry service.

Kinmen County Magistrate Lee Chu-feng played host to the group at the county government building.

Recalling that the United States posted a military advisory group in Kinmen when the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were at war in the 1950's, Lee said Kinmen residents are grateful to the U.S. for its assistance and friendship.

Kinmen residents are looking forward to further expansion of the “mini three links” ferry services with China, as the once strained cross-strait relations have been warming up over the past year, he said.

When the direct cross-strait travel route was launched in 2001 after a decades-old hiatus because of the Chinese civil war, only 21,377 passengers used the service that year, Lee said. However, the number zoomed to 974,486 last year and is expected to leap past the 1.2 million mark this year, he added.

“The opening of the 'mini three links' has laid a solid foundation for the full-fledged opening of direct cross-strait three links,” Lee said.

The NCUSCR delegation members showed keen interest in a number of subjects, including Kinmen's development, cross-strait relations, the feasibility of building a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen, protection of cultural heritage and Kinmen residents' views on Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations.

Lee told his guests that the Kinmen County government has come up with a blueprint for building a bridge between Kinmen's Wulungshan and Xiamen's Dadeng, which would require an outlay of less than US$400 million.

“Neither capital nor technology is a problem. We just need a nod from the central government to execute the long-talked-about project to promote cross-strait tourism and peace,” he said.

The U.S. think tank group is scheduled to travel to Taipei Sunday on a fact-finding visit.

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