Travel to Taiwan’s island - Matsu (4)
Let’s continue travel to Taiwan , Matsu
Lienchiang County Executive Liu Li-chun has just welcomed a visiting delegation from the mainland. Although he has reservations about ROC elected representatives smuggling themselves into mainland China, he admits that with the initiative shown by them the three small links “are starting to taste sweeter and sweeter.”
“Matsu doesn’t steal the spotlight like Kinmen,” Liu notes. “We understand that our population is small, our economic resources limited, and our transportation problems intractable, so we are willing to take a longer view and allow considerations about the three small links to return to the issue of building infrastructure for the offshore islands.” If suddenly the nation really wanted to make Matsu the transfer point for all people and goods across the Taiwan Strait, he fears that the island couldn’t bear it. But Matsu could become a logistical base. The more than 10,000 Taiwanese businessmen in Fuzhou and Mawei could send their children to attend schools built specially for them in Matsu, which would in turn uplift education and culture on the island.
With regard to cross-strait trade, Liu Li-chu says that Matsu ought to model itself on a little convenience store, rather than a huge department store. “The good thing about getting rid of the business tax and customs tariffs is that the two sides will be able to do small-scale trading here, allowing Matsu to become a free-trade zone in the Taiwan Strait. This would provide a tremendous boost to the island’s economy. In this way, the establishment of the full-fledged three links wouldn’t threaten the island’s economy.
While the three small links is no panacea for Matsu’s long-term development problems, the policy is benefiting the island right now: “One-third of all ROC money given to Taiwan’s outer islands goes to Matsu despite its lack of population and area. Although Matsu lags far behind Kinmen and Penghu in terms of infrastructure, if the ROC allows gambling there, as is being considered, then this, in conjunction with the three small links, will definitely help.
“The consensus in Matsu is that improving transportation and encouraging tourism of the best kind is the way for the island to go,” says Tsao Yi-hsiung, a Lienchiang County legislator. With Matsu getting a lot of attention right now, it might as well “grab the short term gain in order to obtain the most long-term benefits.”
