COVID-19 outbreaks in China are expected to exacerbate after the Lunar New Year holidays, and whether ferry links between offshore Kinmen and Lienchiang counties and Xiamen in China will resume depends on the evolving situation, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Victor Wang (???) said Tuesday.
Wang made the remarks at Shuitou Wharf in Kinmen while inspecting disease prevention rules for passengers arriving from China in the event ferry links are reestablished.
The issue of resuming the ferry links was brought to the fore after Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Jassica Chen (???) on Monday visited Xiamen to discuss with Chinese officials the possibility of reinstating direct links.
After Chen visited Xiamen, the Presidential Office and Cabinet said Taiwan should not recklessly lift border controls for passengers arriving through China without first evaluating the COVID-19 situation there.
China recently eased its zero-COVID policy, which is expected to exacerbate outbreaks after the Lunar New Year holidays, Wang said.
The CECC will continue to observe the COVID-19 situation in China, he said.
Kinmen is an outlying island with limited resources, hence the health of its residents must not be endangered by the resumption of ferry links, he added.
"We don't want to address one problem only to create a bigger problem," he said.
Wang also visited Kinmen Hospital to inspect its triage system and facilities for COVID-19 patients.
While at the wharf, he listened to a briefing by outgoing Kinmen County Magistrate Yang Chen-wu (???) about the disease prevention procedures arriving passengers would be required to go through.
During the briefing, Yang said the county government had submitted a plan to resume ferry links to the central government that proposes first allowing visits for humanitarian purposes and family visits on a case-by-case basis, before gradually resuming commercial trips and moving toward full resumption.
Separately on Monday, aides to Kinmen County magistrate-elect Chen Fu-hai (???) said he had departed for Xiamen to discuss logistics for resuming ferry links with relevant officials.
According to his aides, the Chinese authorities declined to say which officials would meet with Chen, saying only that "the level of the officials will meet expectations."
Shortly after Chen received the certificate of election from the Central Election Commission on Dec. 9, he visited Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (???) to lobby for the resumption of direct ferry links before the Lunar New Year holidays which starts on Jan. 20, 2023.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel