In its official document on a proposed "Three Direct Links" project with Taiwan, Beijing on Wednesday called for more extensive economic co-operation between the mainland and Taiwan. This, the document says, is to counteract the latest damage to bilateral ties caused by Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian's provocative moves aimed at triggering new tension in cross-Straits relations.

While insisting that the "Three Direct Links" in the postal service, transport and trade be taken as internal affair of one country, the document states Beijing's stance on the implementation of the "Three Links" and other related issues.

Demonstrating the mainland's sincerity and flexibility in improving relations, the document for the first time officially defines future air and sea routes between Taiwan and the mainland as "cross-Straits routes" rather than "domestic routes" as Beijing used to describe.

But it stressed that the mainland resolutely opposes any attempts to define the "Three Direct Links" as "state-to-state" or to "internationalize" them in disguised form.

Since the "Three Links" issue conforms to the immediate interests of compatriots across the Straits and serves as the fundamental way to achieve mutual economic benefits and a win-win situation, it is purely an economic issue and should not be hampered by political factors, the document states.

Despite the public's increasing interest from both sides for the early realization of the three direct and two-way links, the past two decades have witnessed nothing more than indirect, one-way and indecisive progress in negotiations over the issue.

Fearing that growing economic interdependence with the mainland could undermine its bid for independence, Taiwanese authorities deliberately delay or create hurdles for talks on this issue.

Beijing has already made it clear that so long as Taiwan's authorities allow its non-governmental organizations to come to the mainland for talks on the issue, there is no difficulty in solving this problem. As a matter of fact, there has been success in reaching agreements on direct telecommunications service links in 1990 and on pilot direct shipping service links in 1997.

Therefore, the proposed politicalization of this issue by the current Taiwan leader aimed at halting the development of cross-Straits relations to split Taiwan from the motherland serves as the only existing obstacle to realizing the three direct and two-way links.

Implementation of the "Three Links" is the only way to improve the future of Taiwan's industries and will undoubtedly have positive impacts on long-term development of both sides. In turn, this will also contribute to the stability of cross-Straits relations.

(China Daily December 19, 2003)