In a new move, ostensibly to promote tourism, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has announced that it will offer electronic visas to Taiwanese visitors starting next year. Under the new rules, Chung Hwa Travel Service, Taiwan's representative office in Hong Kong, will be permitted to set up an office at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok international airport to allow Chinese tourists to more easily travel to Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council welcomed the decision yesterday, but scholars say the policy shift was not necessarily a good-will gesture.
Just looking for cash
"Hong Kong just wants to make more money from Taiwanese tourists, especially now that their economy is sluggish. The system's transformation by no means indicates that all Taiwanese are free to enter Hong Kong," said Wu Rong-I (吳榮義), the president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. "There almost certainly will remain a banned list of Taiwanese on their Internet system, even though they will transfer the system to an automated computer to process entry applications."
Wu, a national policy adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (
Ever since Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, the relationship between the two sides has become increasingly sensitive. Since then, Hong Kong has seemingly refused entry to any individual it fears leaders in Beijing would view as controversial.
In 1999, Cheng An-kuo (鄭安國), a former general manager of the Chung Hwa Travel Service, defended former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) "state to state" comments, worsening relations between the two governments. Hong Kong's administration then withheld his work visa at the end of 1999, and the Hong Kong government took 13 months to approve the current president, Chang Liang-jen (張良任), which means that for that period, the office was without a representative.
Cheng, who now works for the KMT's think tank, the National Policy Foundation, doubted the move would have any positive benefit for Taiwan's economy or long-term relations with Hong Kong.
"The iPermit will attract more Taiwanese tourists because of its convenience. I would recommend that Taiwanese immigration departments offer the same service to Hong Kong tourists," Cheng said.
"Cross-strait communication is exploding. Without the office's establishment, Chinese tourists would face problems once Taiwan lifts the ban on Chinese visits. The Taiwanese government will need to spend a lot of time and money setting up the office, which will in the end only benefit Chinese tourists."
Just a return to normalcy
The chairman of the Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of China Studies, Chang Wu-yueh (
"Strengthening the representative office's capability only benefits Chinese tourists traveling from Hong Kong to Taiwan," Chang said.
"In the past, the Hong Kong government has censored itself in deference to China's central government. The new measures are just a return to basic relations between Taiwan and China."
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