Cross-striat links referendum

Say I’ve got an idea - use the level of peurile prattle here to
have you lot explain the pros and cons of the links so that I can
understand it!

The pros:

  • millions of cross-strait trips that currently take 4-5 hrs by re-routing through Hong Kong can be cut down to 1-2 hrs.

  • businesses currently with operations on both sides of the strait will find it easier to leave part of their operations in Taiwan for the above reason.

  • freight/shipping costs drop.

  • billions in additional revenue for Taiwan from mainland tourists.

The cons:

  • closer economic/social integration, making the pain of a hypothetical boycott from the mainland side more painful, making a mockery of claims of true independence.

  • uh, PLA special forces can sneak into Taiwan on freighters, PLAAF fighters can be disguised as civilian air traffic…?

But ROC military can sneak into PRC and do unspeakable things as well. Like goto bars to collect intelligence.

ROC could use the revenue to buy US military arms to protect ROC interest, and also make some money selling the techonolgy to the PRC. The opportunities are endless here.
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AC, the ROC military does go a lot to bars in China, specially the retired ones.

Aditional revenue from tourism would happen if Taiwan also improves a lot. Otherwise it will be a one-time visit, you do the tour bus thing and that is it, cause either than that, it shouldn’t be much different from China. The big advantage Taiwan has against places like HK, by example, is that people here are fluent in Mandarin, and it is hard for them to recognize a tourist from an old mainlander (both have the same accents, so hard to tell).

But there are a lot of security problems arising from the 3 links, specially with the quantity of Chinese that normally DO get to be here illegally. This can be of course tackled by fighting any kind of illegal work, but, then again, it means fiscalization, and Taiwan is extremely poor in that area.

mr_boogie,

I guess we will be thanking the KMT for that. On the one hand the KMT forced us to speak Mandarin. On the other hand it is a great skill when one wants to make money.

How is that any different that any other foreigner in Taiwan illegally? If you don’t have the right documents you get deported. Is that so hard to do? Everyday there are people being deported at CKS international airport.

ac, like I said, the problem is not with the link itself, is with the lack of control (thanks to the institutionalized way of making money as fast as you can).

Once they have a system of controlling foreigners (any kind) that works, then the 3 links will be easy to put (although, the biggest discussion is still the Domestic vs. International flights).