THE successful direct charter flights between both sides of the Taiwan Strait have made it more difficult for the Taiwanese
authorities to justify a continued ban on direct links.

But it is determined to maintain it, citing ""national'' security as the reason. China and Taiwan broke all direct links transport,
trade and postal service in 1949 following a civil war.

While the Taiwanese authorities had asked its media to give little coverage to Taiwanese' warm reception towards the direct flights, they volunteered information on how the military had taken all precautionary measures to prevent any Chinese ""Trojan Horses'' from flying direct to the island to create havoc.

According to the media, the military was particularly wary of the Chinese military's special task forces boarding the civilian planes to Taiwan to kidnap President Chen Shui-bian or to launch surprise attacks.

The entire island was covered by the Avenger anti-air missiles' mobile units.

Taiwan's two major airports where Chinese planes could land were surrounded by sufficient forces capable of fending off any attacks, the media quoted senior defence sources as saying.

In fact, the special chartered planes were forced to take a detour route, passing through the flight information region of Hong Kong, in order to allow the Taiwanese defence forces an extra 15 to 20 minutes of early warning time to differentiate the planes.

This was a condition set by the Taiwanese authorities for agreeing to the direct flight service.

""This is necessary in view of the lack of defence depth in the Taiwan Strait,'' a senior military spokesman told the media.

Such security concern sounds bizarre in the light of modern military technology. Yet, for the Taiwanese government, it has been a surprisingly effective excuse so far for not opening up direct links.

Still, the economic benefits of direct links are so obvious that even the separatist government could not deny them.

According to a study by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Taiwan's Cabinet-level unit handling cross-strait issues other
things being equal, lifting the ban on direct links alone will increase theisland's gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.4 to 1.19 per cent in the long run.

Most of these gains result not merely from the savings in travelling time and cost, but in terms of increased trade and
investment brought about by easier accessibility to and from China.

According to a 2000 study by the Taiwanese Federation of Electronic Industries, the extra savings derivable from direct
flights from Taipei to 10 Chinese cities which have the most Taiwanese amounted to NT$29.7 billion (S$1.5 billion).

Similarly the freight cost for cross-strait shipping will be slashed by 14.42 per cent.

A 2002 study found that with direct links, the huge trade surplus which Taiwan already enjoyed will be increased further by roughly 15 per cent. Taiwan has a massive surplus in cross-strait trade, amounting to US$26.2 billion (S$43.2 billion) in the first 11 months of last year.

But if Taiwan continues to maintain the ban, it risks being marginalised amid an increasing trend towards regionalisation, with the creation of free trade blocs centring on China.

These compelling economic reasons for direct links have given rise to calls for creating an ""air-corridor'' similar to the one
which once linked West Germany with West Berlin during the Cold War era so as to avert security concerns.

But the signs are that President Chen Shui-bian's government will have none of that. It insists that the middle line of the Taiwan Strait must be maintained and its status quo that aircraft and ships are not allowed to cross it directly observed.

It also insists that the existing air routes (G-581 from south to north and B-576 from north to south) should be followed to allow
sufficient response time for its military.

The authorities also cite political security as a rationale for rejecting direct links.

A MAC official explained that direct links may cause Taiwanese to have ""a blurred perception of the line between enemy and friend'', with regards to the Beijing government.

""This would be unfavourable to maintaining domestic unity against external threat,'' he said.