Thu, Jul 03, 2008 page2

• CROSS-STRAIT FLIGHTS: City councilor fears errant tourists could avoid fines

  VISITORS Chen Chien-ming said the city government must enact new regulations to handle Chinese visitors who spit in the street, litter or otherwise violate the law

  • By Mo Yan-chih and Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTERS
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  With the country preparing to receive an influx of Chinese tourists tomorrow, a Taipei City councilor warned of the possible threats the tourists pose to the city’s environment and public safety, and the difficulty local governments will face in trying to punish those who violate the law.

  Independent Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said it would be difficult for the Taipei City Government and other government agencies to trace Chinese tourists who violate regulations, such as those against spitting or throwing cigarette butts in public places, to fine or otherwise punish them.

  “The city government should conduct assessments on all the possible impacts of Chinese tourists. I call upon the city government to set up regulations to handle violations made by Chinese tourists,” Chen told a press conference at the Taipei City Council.

  

  Police officers from around the country handle mock protesters during an exercise in Taipei yesterday simulating possible confrontations that Chinese tour groups could experience in Taiwan. The first cross-strait weekend charter flights will take place tomorrow.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP

  Under the agreements signed in Beijing last month between the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, a 600-member inaugural Chinese tour group will arrive in this country tomorrow when the two sides launch weekend charter flights.

  President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pledged to open Taiwan to 3,000 Chinese tourists per day in the initial stage, with the number increasing to 10,000 per day within four years.

  In response to Chen’s concerns, Taipei’s Law and Regulation Commission said that the rules regulating Chinese tourism allow the city government to issue tickets to tourists who break the law.

  The department said the city government was allowed to ask tourists who violated regulations to pay the fines immediately, and to fine the travel agencies handling the offenders if the tourists failed to pay.

  Liang Hung-lang (梁宏郎), a division chief of the city’s Environmental Protection Department, said if Chinese tourists violated environmental regulations, the department will fine them and ask the travel agencies to help handle the situation.

  Meanwhile, the National Police Agency staged a mock exercise to simulate potential situations they might have to deal with because of the influx of Chinese visitors.

  Police officers from various tourist spots nationwide took part in the exercise.

  Among the scenarios included in the exercise were police intervening to prevent Chinese visitors from being forced by vendors to buy souvenirs or visitors forcing vendors to sell them souvenirs, and Chinese visitors encountering people demonstrating against them.

  Minister of the Interior Liao Liao-yi (廖了以) watched the exercise and afterward said the simulation had made him optimistic about the police departments’ ability to handle any problems.

  “Our officers are professional in what they do,” he said.

  “It seems to me that they know how to fix problems, if there are any, within the shortest period of time. This is exactly what we need,” he said.
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