Back when China was beginning to slowly tear down barriers to international tourists during the Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) era, jokes would abound — some in T-shirt form — of the mercenary and exploitative ways in which foreigners were received. “Welcome to China, now get out,” was one of the more memorable of these, along with unkind acronyms suggesting that China’s airlines were always late, if they arrived at all.
In those early days, it was commonplace for adventurous tourists to cut through large amounts of red tape, travel to pre-arranged “gift stores” and suffer the spotty professionalism of tour guides who attempted to ensure that their charges did not misbehave and did not go places that would inconvenience the authorities. As time went on and economic and political change allowed more individual freedom, these obstacles diminished, and today entry into China allows for a surprising amount of freedom.
Fast forward 25 years or so and Taiwan is preparing to receive its first planeloads of Chinese tourists. The demographic features of these tourists to Taiwan will be surprisingly similar to those of the first foreigners into post-Mao China: mobile, comfortably well off and educated. The difference today is that these tourists are going to be escorted around this country in a manner even more exploitative and mercenary, though for them that would be a trade-off that comes with being allowed entry in the first place.
In practical terms the government and opposition have reached something of a consensus on the restrictions that will be necessary when letting Chinese into the country. For the government, there is concern that Taiwan might prove too alluring for occasional, would-be illegal immigrants — or “defectors,” as they would have been called not so long ago — and hence travel agencies that are paying through the roof for the privilege of hosting Chinese tourists will have to pay a much higher price if anyone absconds. Considering the kind of tourist that can afford to pay for the trip — and can be trusted to return to China — this is unlikely to happen.
The main problem for the opposition is the sociopolitical risk that the tourists pose. Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), speaking to the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club in Taipei yesterday, could not conceal the sentiment that these tourists may experience cultural difficulties, an odd thing to say given that they speak the same language, more or less, and will have more than likely traveled to many other countries before.
We have said before that the economic benefits of Chinese tourism are almost certainly overstated, and especially now in the wake of the plunging stock market and inflation pressures. But the political impact of Chinese tourism may be more positive, if subtler, than first thought, particularly from the point of view of independence activists. More contact with free Taiwanese may just throw the reality of China into sharp relief, though the average tourist will hardly need a lecture on the situation in his or her own country.
The real problem is that Chinese tourists will not be free to go about their business and will have to vie for the best view in a small number of locations, where the groups next to them will most likely also be Chinese.
Taiwan’s challenge, regardless of political stance, is how to gather the courage to let this society speak for itself, not through the prism of a shabby tourism industry, but through the confident voices of ordinary people. One thing we can be sure of is that such voices will barely be heard under the current system.
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