Summary
Owing to political confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait beginning in 1949 and the resultant ban on direct navigation, Hong Kong became the primary third place for the conduct of sea transportation involving Taiwan and Mainland China. But with Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, Taiwan began to establish an offshore shipping center at Kaohsiung Harbour as a transshipment hub for seaborne cargo between the two sides. Meanwhile, Mainland China opened Xiamen and Fuzhou as harbours for navigation to and from the offshore shipping center. However, because of differences in the direct navigation policies adopted by the governments on Taiwan and the Mainland China, foreign shipping companies have had difficulty entering the emerging sea transportation market. This paper reviews the changes of direct navigation policies adopted by the two governments and the operation of offshore shipping centers at Kaohsiung harbour. In addition, recommendations for improvements to the current situation regarding cross-Taiwan Strait navigation are provided.
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Extract
The Development of Off-Shore Shipping Centres: A Managerial Perspective
1. Introduction
Since 1949, the governments of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have prohibited cross-strait maritime exchanges of seaborne cargo and personnel, requiring the implementation of indirect trade and seaborne cargo transshipment via third places such as Hong Kong. With the impending return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty by Britain on July 1, 1997, the governments of Taiwan and Mainland China authorized designated civil organizations to engage in several rounds of negotiations aimed at maintaining the navigation and indirect trade relationship between the two sides.The outcome of these talks was the establishment of an "offshore shipping center" at Kaohsiung Harbour in Taiwan for "direct navigation between trial points" at Xiamen and Fuzhou on Mainland China. On April 17, 1997, the first direct navigation between the two sides since 1949 was successfully conducted between Xiamen and Kaohsiung (Chang, et al., 2006)The purpose of the Taiwan government in establishing the offshore shipping centers was to avoid a situation whereby ships from the two sides could no longer load or unload seaborne cargo from Hong Kong because of mutual political non-recognition and restrictions after Hong Kong's return to Chin...See the full content of this document
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