Devil in the detail of China tourism

On May 20 last year the first anniversary of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) second term in office, China's National Tourism Administration (NTA, 國家旅遊局) announced its decision to allow Chinese tourists to travel to Taiwan. Following last week's meeting between former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Beijing has announced the "Measures for the Administration of Chinese Citizens Traveling to or from the Region of Taiwan" (大陸居民赴台灣地區旅遊管理辦法), signifying China's "tourism offensive" against the country has gone into high gear.

The new initiative means Chinese travelers will hereafter be divided into four major groups, depending on their destination. First, those going to "other" countries, who are covered by the 2002 "Measures for the Administration of the Overseas Tours of Chinese Citizens" (中國公民出國旅遊管理辦法).

The second group, covered by the "Notice of the State Administration of Tourism on the Relevant Issues concerning the Travel Agencies' Organizing Inland Residents to Travel to Hong Kong and Macao" (關於旅行社組織內地居民赴香港澳門旅遊有關問題的通知), also issued in 2002, is for travelers going to Hong Kong and Macao.

Thirdly, there are those travelers going to neighboring countries, covered by the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Tours of Neighboring Countries" (邊境旅遊暫行管理辦法) of 1997.

And the fourth and final group, most recently mandated, is Chinese travelers going to Taiwan.

Taiwan has already become a destination among Chinese tourists. The Taiwanese government claims that China has to first include Taiwan in its list of travel destinations before both sides of the Taiwan strait can conduct further negotiations. However, Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan in this regard.

This raises problems as, on the one hand, a destination isn't generally included on the list before negotiations are completed, and on the other, according to the "Measures for the Administration of the Overseas Tours of Chinese Citizens," taking a trip to Taiwan is not actually considered an overseas tour.

Article 17 of "Measures for the Control of Chinese Citizens Traveling to or from the Region of Taiwan," which deals with how organized tour groups operate, such as the appropriate way to deal with illegal stays by Chinese tourists, is very similar to the contents of the "Measures for the Administration of the Overseas Tours of Chinese Citizens."

What makes the "Measures for the Control of Chinese Citizens Traveling to or from the Region of Taiwan" different is Article 4, which stipulates that Taiwanese travel agencies receiving Chinese tourists must be approved by China's NTA -- this approval is subsequently announced by the Cross-Strait Tourism Association (海峽兩岸旅遊交流協會).

Article 4 has two implications. First, China does not actively direct overseas travel agencies that receive Chinese tourists but will have tight control of Taiwanese travel agencies doing so. Second, the Cross-Strait Tourism Association, which China's National Tourism Administration Director Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉) declared would be set up during his visit to Taiwan last November, has already been quietly established and is now fully operational.

As Shao first said, this organization will in future play a significant role in cross-strait negotiations. Taiwan's government will probably also have to establish a new government agency to act as a counterpart of this association instead of the "Travel Agent Association" (全聯會) it had originally appointed.

However, I have my doubts as to whether or not this means that Chinese tourists will be able to travel to Taiwan immediately.

First, it remains to be seen if cross-strait tourism negotiations will be based on the so-called "1992 consensus." Will Beijing find it acceptable if Taipei continues to deny the existence of this consensus?

Second, will China be willing to see Chen Shui-bian's government make a comeback on the economic front during the final two years of his presidency, or will they mix talks and procrastination to let the pan-blue camp reap the benefits? After all, it took three years for Beijing and Tokyo to ink a deal on tourism-related issues.

Third, it remains to be seen whether or not China will allow Taiwan to set up an "overseas agency" issuing visas in China. This involves the sovereignty issue, and it is not very efficient to have applications reviewed in Hong Kong or Macau. It would also be difficult to verify credentials and qualifications -- both the EU and Japan now interview applicants before issuing a visa to prevent illegal stays.

Fourth, if cross-strait direct flights are not established forcing visitors to travel via Hong Kong or Macao, the price of traveling to Taiwan is not going to be competitive, which would mitigate the effects of deregulation.

Kinmen can be included as an entry and exit point. It could serve as a buffer, and such an arrangement could offer a boost to tourism in Kinmen while also reducing the negative impact of the high speed rail on domestic civil aviation once it starts its services.

Judging from the opening of the three small direct links in 2000 and the opening up of category 2 and category 3 Chinese tourism in 2002, the impact of a unilateral opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourism without any prior negotiations would probably be quite insignificant.

Fan Shih-ping is an assistant professor in the Department of International Affairs at National Kinmen Institute of Technology.

Translated by Daniel Cheng