Tourism talks stall over terms

Beijing has hindered progress in cross-strait talks over Taiwan's planned opening to Chinese tourists for political reasons, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tung (陳明通) said yesterday.

Chen said Beijing characterized Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan as "going to Taiwan, China," during the fourth round of cross-strait talks over the proposed changes.

Beijing's terminology remained unchanged in the fifth round of talks, Chen said during the question-and-answer session of the legislative Home and Nations Committee yesterday.

Chen gave a special report on "cross-strait transportation and opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists," and legislators in turn relentlessly questioned Chen about the recent cross-strait issues.

During the session, pan-blue legislators questioned the delay in reaching an agreement and blamed Chen for messing up the policy.

Chen, in response, stressed that it was China that had imposed a political framework for the talks, thereby preventing progress.

Late in the afternoon, Chen said that five negotiations on the tourism policy were held between Taiwan and China and that most technical details were nearly settled.

"But in the fourth-round negotiation, China proposed a document that referred to `citizens of Mainland China traveling to Taiwan, China? and Taiwan does not think it is acceptable," Chen said in press conference.

There are two different schools of thought in Beijing -- one calls for opening up before next year and the other insists on maintaining the "status quo" until after next year, he added.

"Some of them do not want to give credit to the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government in terms of this policy," Chen said.

"But I think the political consideration has come to an end since both one DPP and one KMT's presidential candidates have been chosen. And it is time for Beijing to resume negotiation," he said.