The government will begin to issue multiple-entry visas to independent Chinese travelers who meet certain requirements from Aug. 1, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday.
Such visas will be given to those who have traveled to Taiwan independently two times or more over the past year or those who hold a multiple-exit Taiwan travel permit issued by the Chinese government, NIA Deputy Director-General Ho Jung-chun (何榮村) said during an annual cross-strait tourism conference held in Taipei.
Chinese were first allowed to visit Taiwan without having to be part of a tour group on June 28, 2011. As of last month, independent Chinese travelers had made 430,000 visits to Taiwan, according to the Tourism Bureau.
Also at the meeting, Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉), head of China’s National Tourism Administration, said cross-strait tourism exchanges and cooperation have achieved very fruitful results over the past five years. China has so far allowed residents of 31 provinces, regions, and cities to visit Taiwan for sightseeing, with 216 travel agencies organizing tour groups to Taiwan, Shao said.
The Tourism Bureau said Chinese have made 5.73 million visits to Taiwan over the past five years, bringing in NT$29.26 billion (US$978.59 million) in tourism revenue. The number of average daily arrivals reached 4,981 last month, up from 328 in 2008.
The rapid rise in Chinese tourist numbers has helped boost the development of Taiwan’s tourism industry, the bureau said. Since 2008, 524 new hotels with a total investment of NT$112.6 billion have been built, and another 453 new hotels are expected by 2016, it added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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