The nation would host one million Chinese tourists every year as part of the initial phase of a cross-strait tourism plan, the Chinese Nation-alist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance said yesterday.
The alliance was announcing its economic policy for the presidential campaign, pledging to open the nation to visits by Chinese tourists and to liberalize cross-strait investment.
"We will open up Taiwan to tourists from China to promote the tourist industry," KMT Chairman and presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰) said in the televised address last night.
Lien was joined by PFP Chairman and vice presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) throughout the 90-minute program.
Elaborating on his tourism plan, Lien said the initial target would be to attract one million Chinese tourists annually, possibly increasing to three million tourists a year were the government satisfied that a cross-strait tourism balance could be achieved.
Lien also promised that the alliance would work to open up direct links for both cargo and passenger traffic as soon as possible.
Lien restated his concept of a "cross-strait air corridor," which he said would serve as the framework for cross-strait links.
Modeled after the 1948 Berlin Airlift, the "cross-strait air corridor" would create a designated point in both countries from which a dedicated air route would serve the cross-strait market.
Insisting that the public was opposed to communist China's "one country, two systems" dictum and that the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) pro-independence stance would either leave the country marginalized or else spark military confrontation with China, Lien said that "only the KMT and the PFP can resolve cross-strait issues."
"The KMT-PFP alliance stands for maintaining the cross-strait status quo. All ideological baggage should be put aside and all effort made to salvage Taiwan's economy," he said.
Lien pledged that his election as president would bring the unemployment rate down to below four percent, push economic growth above five percent within four years and balance the budget within six years.
"It is our hope to revive the `Taiwan Miracle,'" he said.
Lien said the economic blueprint he offered had two components. Politically, the alliance would push for "cross-strait reconciliation as well as reconciliation between the ruling and opposition parties."
"All factors, whether or not they are directly related to the economy, can affect the confidence of investors and consumers. It is important to have a stable political situation and harmonious cross-strait relations because the economy is an issue of confidence," he said.
On the economic front, Lien said, "we propose `big development,' `big stability,' `big construction' and `big reform.'"
Lien said "big development" covered improvement to the investment environment, investment incentives for the private sector and creation of a market that provided more opportunities for employment.
"Big stability" meant shrinking the gap between the poor and the wealthy and providing care to underprivileged groups, he said.
"Big construction" advocated accelerated investment in public infrastructure, while "big reform" referred to "an all-out effort" to enhance national competitiveness, Lien said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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