Kinmen needs new policy to support county's development, magistrate says

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 23, 2006. It reports that Kinmen is now at a crucial stage of transition, and needs the government to support its development with a more open policy. Because Kinmen is closer to China than to Taiwan proper, China is key to Kinmen's development. Taiwan's policy on the role of Kinmen in cross-strait relations will be vital in the island's survival as a tourist destination.

Kinmen's past as a military outpost has diminished with the easing of cross-strait relations in recent years. More than 90 percent of the troops have been withdrawn from Kinmen, and the island has been gradually opened up and developed as a tourist destination.

In January 2001, the so-called "mini three links" - direct trade, postal and transportation links -- were implemented between Kinmen and China's Fujian Province. Since then, more than 1.1 million people have shuttled between Kinmen and Fujian. The number was 21,377 in 2001, but it had grown nearly 25 times to 518,719 by 2005.

The reason why there was such a rapid growth is that all Taiwanese businesspeople who operate in China can go to China through Kinmen. These Taiwanese businesspeople and their dependents account for 75 percent of all passengers between Kinmen and Fujian.

However, Taiwanese businesspeople only stop over in Kinmen and their consumption on the island is very limited. The authorities from Kinmen now want a more open government policy to bring a new wave of people, and with them more money to promote the development of the island.

According to the authorities from Kinmen, the government should relax its regulations to allow all of Taiwan's residents to use the direct links. Taiwanese people currently make 4.1 million visits to China via Hong Kong, Macau and other third-country routes every year. If all these people can go via Kinmen and Matsu, then the number of passengers can reach 1 million. These passengers will bring enough capital to boost Kinmen's finance and development.