The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) will permit Chinese tourists and cross-strait charter flights on weekends and holidays soon after wrapping up bilateral negotiations, council Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (
Liu made the remarks at a Legislative Yuan seminar sponsored by the legislative caucus of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). KMT lawmakers had suggested that the government permit the opening as soon as possible after the coming Lunar New Year -- which falls on Feb. 18 -- to help bolster Taiwan's economy.
Officials from relevant government agencies, including the MAC, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of the Interior and the central bank were also present at the meeting.
Liu said that bilateral talks on Taiwan's opening to Chinese tourists, cross-strait weekend and holiday charter flights and the exchange of Chinese yuan in Taiwan have made concrete progress and the MAC would allow the opening soon after the two sides conclude negotiations.
Central bank Deputy Governor Hsu I-hsiung (
Meanwhile, local real-estate and property developers forecast that opening up to Chinese tourists will stimulate not only office building demand, but also the retail and hotel markets.
As Taiwan's property prices still lag far behind those in other developed nations, Chinese tourists with strong purchasing power would likely target the local real-estate market, industry sources said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard