The prospect of opening up the country to Chinese tourists has gained ground as Taiwanese representatives reached a consensus with China on allowing 1,000 Chinese visitors to come to Taiwan per day for sightseeing, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (
The quota of 1,000 visitors per day had been a suggested in previous negotiations over the issue.
Wu told the press yesterday that Chinese representatives had misunderstood Taiwan's stance on the tourist issue and some Chinese media had even accused Taiwan of discrimination against Chinese people, resulting in a policy delay.
"We found that Chines had been given many confusing and incorrect messages about our opening up for Chinese tourists and we don't want wrong information to blur our efforts," Wu said.
The news that Taiwan was planning to use the fingerprint identification system on Chinese tourists was a groundless rumor, Wu said.
But Wu said that agreeing with China on a quota for Chinese tourists to Taiwan was substantial progress.
Rules jointly pushed by the MAC, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Chinese who are permitted to come to Taiwan fall into three categories: visitors coming for sightseeing via Hong Kong and Macau; visitors coming after or before they visit a third country or conduct business trips overseas; and visitors residing abroad permanently or studying overseas.
If all the negotiations on the tourist issue are settled, these three categories will be canceled and Chinese visitors will no longer be categorized according to these rules, Wu said.
"At that time, about 30,000 Chinese tourists per month will be able to come to visit Taiwan," Wu said.
Wu said that both sides had been negotiating details and had achieved concrete progress, but said that he could not provide further information at this point.
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