Three direct links
At long last, no more circuitous trips to Hong Kong or Okinawa just to get to the mainland! Need to make a day trip to Shanghai from Taipei (or vice versa) and be home the same night? No problem! Well, it won’t be a problem once the flights become more regular. The opening of the three direct links — something both the Blues and Greens have been clamoring for years — is certainly a cause for celebration.
The good news is that at least the infrastructure is in place for better seaport and airport facilities all over Taiwan. With Taipei - Shanghai day trips soon to be a reality, Taoyuan Airport City may finally, pardon the pun, take off. Under normal economic conditions, this would be great. Hundreds of thousands of new jobs could be created with these new cargo, flight, and shipping hubs now opening to the land across the strait. But in the global economic slowdown, how much will opening Taiwan’s market to Mainland China actually help Taiwan?
Business, finance, and shipping do stand to profit from these liberalized links. As for tourism, the fact that Beijing authorities screen who can and cannot go to Taiwan, and that Taipei makes it harder for Continentals to enter Taiwan than the US, really doesn’t help. Espionage paranoia, anyone?
