First Taiwan-China Voyage in 50 Years
X I A M E N, China, Jan. 2 -- A boat from the Taiwanese island fortressof Kinmen and another from the islet of Matsu arrived in Chinatoday, making the first legal direct crossings from Taiwan inmore than 50 years.
Two dozen uniformed police officers and officials greeted theKinmen boat as it arrived a few minutes before noon carrying 190Taiwanese officials and community leaders. Some passengers wavedand about 200 Chinese spectators gathered near the pier to watch asthe vessel arrived quietly under sunny skies.
The ship from Matsu, just off China’s southeastern coast,arrived almost simultaneously in another Chinese port, Taiwanesemedia reported from the vessel.
The ships were the first to cross legally from outlyingTaiwanese islands since Taiwan and China separated in a bloodycivil war that ended in 1949.
First Attempt Turned Back
Taiwan relaxed a ban on travel between the two islands and Chinaon New Year’s Day. But a Taiwanese tourist boat on what was to bethe first crossing Monday was forced to turn back by bad weatherand high seas.
Many Taiwanese hope that the relaxing of travel restrictionsfrom the two islands will ease tensions with China.
A large crowd celebrated and a high school band dressed in blue,green and red satin costumes banged gongs and drums, and didtraditional dragon dances, as the Tai Wu left Kinmen for theChinese mainland. The vessel is named after the tallest mountain inXiamen, where it docked.
“This is such an unimaginable event, and we’re extremelyexited,” Gung Cheng-mao, 53, a businessman, said in Kinmen. Herecalled that China had once bombed his island almost every day inthe 1950s and that one shell had crashed through his family’s home.The boat’s voyage from Kinmen represents a great, historical changefor the better, he said.
Chen Shui-tsai, the Kinmen county commissioner leading thedelegation aboard the Tai Wu, told reporters that in the future hisisland should be used as the location for the first-ever summit bythe leaders of China and Taiwan to end their long-standingdifferences.
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