Choppers ‘not required’

• Source: Global Times
• [07:19 August 18 2009]
• Comments

 Houses were engulfed by landslides in the southern county of Chiayi on Alishan mountain in Taiwan Province. Photo: AFP

An official from the Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan said the island does not need the heavy lifting helicopters offered by the Chinese mainland to help in the typhoon rescue mission, according to China News Service last night.

“It is not convenient for the helicopters stationed in Northeast China to fly to the island as the US is willing to send heavy helicopters from its base in Japan,” said Liu Dexun, deputy chief of the council.

Relevant departments are going to evaluate the situation and decide if it needs the mainland to send helicopters in the future, added Liu.

Responding to criticisms that reason for the rejection of help was because the Taiwan government is worried about mainland helicopters collecting military information, Liu said the offer was a humanitarian action, and “it shouldn’t be connected with a political agenda”.

The mainland is willing to offer helicopters for the ongoing rescue mission, even if it means renting helicopters from countries like Russia, said Fan Liqing, spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Saturday.

In a separate development, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said he was thinking about how he and Hu Jintao are going to attend the annual meeting between party chiefs from across the Taiwan Straits.

The heads of the two parties meet annually through a channel between the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang during the past years.