Taiwan "president" Chen Shui-bian has tried to clear Taiwan human smugglers from their responsibilities relating to the recent death of six women from the mainland.

Showing no sympathy for the victims, Chen pointed his finger at the mainland on Wednesday.

The human traffickers forced 26 mainland women overboard into the sea on Tuesday when they were trying to escape the Taiwan coast guard, leaving six dead and three missing.

These women were short of food and water during the voyage.

The better life the smugglers promised them was an invitation to suffer dread. For half a dozen of them, it was a journey to their death.

Seemingly, these needy women turned out to be the ready bullets Chen required so badly to shoot at the mainland.

Politicizing the tragedy, Chen used the opportunity to lecture the mainland on human rights.

He ignored the culprits responsible for the deaths and the ordeals for those still alive.

Taiwan police arrested four of the alleged people smugglers - all from Taiwan - on Tuesday.

The Taiwan authorities should step up measures to stop human traffickers on the island, preventing them from inflicting tragedies on mainland people.

The latest catastrophe is an example of Taiwan's indifference to the issue.

Still, these women are the victims of restricted transportation across the Taiwan Straits, where the mainland is open to all Taiwan people while the island is almost closed to the mainland.

Taiwan has been blocking the "three direct links" across the Straits.

The "three direct links" refer to direct trade, postal service and transportation across the Straits.

In the past years, the mainland has been taking the initiative to address the issue.

The flexibility the mainland has exercised in dealing with the "three direct links" demonstrates its sincerity to materialize the matter.

The mainland recommends leaving the specific meaning of "one China" untouched in concrete talks so long as the "three direct links" are viewed as an internal affair.

But the two sides cannot get together to address the issue because Taiwan excludes cross-Straits transportation from internal affairs.

Without normal, direct transportation, the return of the 20 smuggled mainland women will be complicated.

The human traffickers should be brought to justice. Also, the source of the problem deserves serious attention.

It is time for an answer from Taiwan.

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