China will send a 36-member delegation to Taiwan next month to prepare for tour groups to visit the island beginning in July, a local newspaper said yesterday.
The travel representatives from China will arrive April 29 in Taipei for a two-week visit, the paper said.
They will attend three seminars with their Taiwan counterparts and visit tourists resorts and facilities on the island.
Taiwan plans to lift its five-decade ban on tourists from China visiting Taiwan on July 1. In the initial stage, Taipei will only accept Chinese tour groups and will set a quota of 1,000 tourists per day.
The restriction is to avoid an influx of too many tourists and to prevent Chinese from staying behind to work illegally.
According to the report, China has authorized the Hai Xia Cross Strait Travel Agency, an affiliate of the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, to handle tours to Taiwan.
For security reasons, Taiwan has banned direct sea, air and postal links with China but has allowed Taiwan residents to visit China since 1987.
Three million people from Taiwan visited China last year for sightseeing, family reunions and business.
According to the report, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council will establish some regulations on Chinese tour groups while visiting Taiwan.
It said the council will in the initial stage only allow Chinese people over the age of 30 to visit Taiwan. Additionally, tourists from China will only be allowed to enter Taiwan through CKS International Airport and will have to exit from Kaohsiung Hsiaokang International Airport.
The paper quoted DPP legislator Chang Ching-fang (
The itinerary is currently waiting for approval from the Mainland Affairs Council.
According to Chang, the government will allow Chinese tourists to set foot on the island based on a policy of "groups in, groups out" (
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
‘ILLEGAL RULING’: The KMT and the TPP slammed the Constitutional Court judgement, saying it contravened the law and was trying to clear the way for a ‘green dictatorship’ The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed by the Legislative Yuan last year are unconstitutional, as they contravene due legislative process and separation of powers. The Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20 last year passed amendments stipulating that no fewer than 10 grand justices must take part in deliberations of the Constitutional Court, and at least nine grand justices must agree to declare a law unconstitutional. The Executive Yuan on Jan. 2 requested that lawmakers reconsider the bill, but the Legislative Yuan, under a combined majority of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party
RSS