BEIJING, DEC 30: As Taiwan gears up to ease a five-decade ban on direct links with China, Beijing has issued new rules it says are designed to accelerate trade between the two rivals.Beijing coupled the regulations, issued yesterday, with renewed criticism of Taiwan's plans to allow direct shipping between outlying islands and China, saying the move does not go far enough and that bans on shipping and other links should be lifted completely.
Taiwan's plans to allow ships and people to travel between two Taiwan-controlled islands and China's southeast coast from Monday will essentially decriminalize trade between fishermen and smugglers on both sides that has been booming for several years.
Because Monday is a new year's holiday in China, the county commissioner of Kinmen, the largest of the two Taiwanese islands, is expected to make the inaugural voyage Tuesday.
But a ban on direct transportation links between China and the main island of Taiwan, separated by the 160-kilometer Taiwan strait, will remain.
An Min, an assistant Chinese Minister for trade, urged Taiwan to lift the ban completely. Limiting contacts to outlying islands "simply cannot suit the real needs of trade and travel between the two sides," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an as saying in a report late yesterday.
Taiwan should "open up the main road and not take small roads," An added.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
