The government may allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan so long as Taiwan and China can agree on measures to execute the policy within six months, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) announced yesterday.
"If China releases regulations allowing its citizens to come to Taiwan and the measures are deemed complete and sufficient, we will not rule out partially allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan," MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
Wu said if the measures were finalized, the government would allow Chinese tourists to come to Taiwan without government-to-government negotiations.
The MAC had previously insisted that governmental negotiations between China and Taiwan would be necessary before Taiwan could open the door to Chinese tourists.
Charter flights
The MAC yesterday also said the government would open up more cross-strait charter flights both for cargo and personnel within six months, depending on the progress of the negotiations. Wu said it was likely that public holiday flights would soon be introduced as well as charter cargo flights that will fly on a special clearance basis.
Wu's statements were in line with an announcement by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday.
Su said that if Beijing promised to help prevent problems with illegal Chinese immigrants or if measures were in place to address such issues, the government had no problem doing so, but as of now this was impossible.
The premier made the remarks during an opening speech at yesterday morning's weekly Cabinet meeting.
Su cited US statistics on illegal Chinese immigrants.
"The Department of Homeland Security secretary said in March that ... more than 39,000 illegal Chinese immigrants are in the US and that these people have become a serious problem," Su said.
"China and the US have official diplomatic relations but China ignores this problem created by its own illegal immigrants to the US. Of course we cannot easily lift the ban on them at this moment," he added.
The premier said that Taiwan was not yet capable of handling problems such as people who overstay their visas. As a result, lifting the ban at this time would create more problems and waste more government money, he said.
Su said that the problem should be worked out by both governments.
Su also said it was possible the government could lift bans on direct charter flights across the Taiwan Strait.
"Under the circumstances of appropriate arrangements and negotiations, I must say, anything is possible," Su said.
KMT's China visit
The announcement was considered a preemptive strike by the government ahead of a second meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) tomorrow.
Beijing is expected to make public rules governing travel by its citizens to Taiwan.
Wu said "the public's impression has been that the government is responsible for delaying the arrival of the Chinese tourists. By making these announcements, we hope China will be prompted to take more concrete action to realize its policy."
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS