A decision on reopening the Three Mini Links will be made before late January’s Lunar New Year holiday. That came from National Security Council head Wellington Koo (顧立雄) at the legislature on Thursday. The Three Mini Links refers to connections in transportation, trade, and postal services between Taiwan’s outlying islands and China’s Fujian Province.
China is currently facing a large spike in Covid cases. Officials have expressed concerns over China’s lack of transparency in reporting its domestic COVID-19 cases and medicine shortages. Koo’s comments come amid a larger debate over whether opening the links could increase the spread of COVID-19 within Taiwan and panic buying of medicine by Chinese visitors.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) says the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday for Taiwanese people. He says the government wants to make sure that people from the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu can return home safely.
The links were suspended in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.