INTRODUCTION

This statement by Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou captures the nature of the problem of cross-straits flights. The ambiguity involved allows the respective governments to interpret to their own advantage the nature of these flights. However, the issue at hand has always been more than one of a simple renewal of contacts between Taiwan and the Mainland. Direct transport, trade and postal links – the ‘three links’ – with the Mainland were snapped by the Republic of China (ROC) government that had fled to Taiwan following its defeat. Today, in an era of deepening economic ties, the lack of direct and convenient links between the two political entities remains something of an anachronism. What has complicated matters, however, is the fact that the strengthening of Sino-Taiwanese economic ties has also been accompanied by the rise of Taiwanese nationalism represented for nearly seven years by an avowedly pro-independence party in power.