The nation's top China policy planner said yesterday that when Chinese citizens will be allowed to visit Taiwan as tourists hinges on Beijing's approval.
Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
It is now up to Beijing to determine when Chinese citizens will be allowed to travel to Taiwan, Chen said, adding that if Beijing gave its approval, the program could be implemented this year.
Chen made the remarks in response to a question by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chien-ting (黃健庭), who said that Chinese tourists would be a major force helping to boost Taiwan's sagging tourism industry and asked Chen when the government would allow Chinese tourists to enter.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Meanwhile, Su also said that opening the nation to Chinese tourists was just a part of the overall strategy to attract international tourists, saying that Taiwan has resolved to attract more tourists from all over the world.
The pop group F4, which visited Japan and South Korea to promote Taiwan's tourism industry at the invitation of the Tourism Bureau, drew 5,000 of its Japanese and Korean fans to Taipei last week, Su added.
The MAC earlier this year said that Taiwanese representatives had reached a consensus with China on allowing 1,000 Chinese visitors to come to Taiwan per day for sightseeing.
According to rules jointly formulated 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, according to the council.
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