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Cross-strait flights should be open to all travelers: Chen

If Taiwan and China reach consensus on negotiating the opening of cross-strait charter flights, "international" passengers -- including Chinese -- will also be allowed to take the flights, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday in Taipei.

In a speech to a group of Taiwanese businesspeople with investments in China, Chen said opening Taiwan up to Chinese tourists and regular cross-strait charter flights were two major issues the government has been working on.

He said there had been some progress on both issues and he was confident that concrete results would be achieved soon.

"I believe that Chinese civilians will soon have the opportunity to visit open, diverse, beautiful and friendly Taiwan," Chen said.

He said that the two sides have reached consensus on several topics, such as the number of Chinese arrivals per day, regulations governing travel agencies, application procedures, the modes of issuing travel and identity papers and the mechanism of crisis management.

"I will ask the related departments to speed up the negotiations," Chen said.

He said the government has been working very hard to protect Taiwan's national security and economy while negotiating with China over charter flights.

"If both sides could complete the negotiations on these two issues -- tourism and charter flights -- we hope that in addition to Taiwanese passengers, people of other nationalities will be able to take the flights, as well as Chinese people visiting Taiwan," Chen said.

The president made the comments in a speech to a party hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation at the Grand Hotel.

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who also attended the party, echoed Chen's comments about opening up cross-strait charter flights to more people.

"In addition to Chinese tourists, we expect that passengers who hold legal travel documents will be able to take the charter flights," Wu said.

He said the question of who could take such flights would be the next topic of discussion with China, adding that he did not think Beijing would have too many opinions about passengers' qualifications.

At present, the negotiations on cross-strait charter flights have focused on Taiwanese travelers.

Only Taiwanese expatriates working in China or Taiwanese who are planning to travel in China are eligible to take the charter flights.

Asked to comment on Chen's remarks about the charter flights, Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said yesterday that "it is a direction that is worth evaluating," adding that he had yet to read the president's speech.

Tsai said the idea of allowing Chinese tourists to take the charter flights was proposed at a Cabinet meetings a few months ago. However, he said it could only be realized through negotiations between the two governments.

Tsai said that since the negotiations will cover tourism-related issues and charter flight rights, the government will have to negotiate with two separate organizations in China.

Whether the negotiations will require a new agreement or simply a minor amendment to the present agreement remains to be seen, he said.

Tsai said that the Mainland Affairs Council would be in charge of coordinating efforts from different ministries.

"Spring seems to be a good season to start [executing the new policy]," he said.
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