Executive Yuan Announces Expansion of Mini Three Links

       In view of the constantly growing volume of travel between Taiwan and mainland China, on April 25 Premier Su Tseng-chang announced an expansion of the “Mini Three Links” across the Taiwan Strait, effective May 1. The liberalized rules allow people from Kinmen and Matsu who are living in Taiwan, and their relatives, to travel to mainland China from those two islands. A new sea route, between Kinmen and Quanzhou, will also be opened up in June.

　　This is one of the most important liberalizations to be instituted since the government first inaugurated the Mini Three Links in January of 2001. It is expected to increase direct travel from Kinmen and Matsu to the mainland for business and related activities by about one million people a year.

　　The new measures include the following main points:

1.People from Kinmen and Matsu who now reside in Taiwan, plus their spouses, lineal relatives, and second-degree collateral relatives and their spouses, along with their children who have not reached the age of maturity, can now travel freely from Kinmen and Matsu to mainland China without the need to organize a group. The old measures limited direct travel to the mainland to people who had established residences in Kinmen or Matsu before Dec. 31, 2000, and their accompanying spouses. In addition, they were allowed to travel only in groups.

2.The new Kinmen-Quanzhou route, which is being inaugurated in June, covers a distance of approximately 22 nautical miles and takes around 65 minutes to travel. It joins two existing routes, Kinmen-Xiaman and Matsu-Fuzhou.

　　Statistics compiled by the Mainland Affairs Council reveal that 619,364 people traveled between Kinmen/Matsu and the mainland using the Mini Three Links last year, a growth of 80.8% over 2004. The number of travelers in the first quarter of 2006 increased by 17.6% over the same period of last year, to 78,000. For more related information, please check this website: http://www.mac.gov.tw/big5/cnews/cnews950430.htm.

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