The government has measures in place to deal with the sharp drop in the number of Chinese tourists in the wake of increasingly strained cross-strait relations, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said on Thursday.
MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) told a news conference that the government “has prepared for the worst” and has countermeasures to deal with the likely continued low number of Chinese tourists next year.
Chiu was responding to questions about the decline in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan this past year.
He reiterated that the government has not changed its position that Chinese tourists are welcome to visit Taiwan and remains committed to improving the quality of the local tourism sector.
Chiu also expressed regret at the politicization of cross-strait tourism.
In response to the decline in Chinese tourism numbers, he said the government is working to encourage local tourism by urging Taiwanese to take domestic holidays.
According to National Immigration Agency figures, Chinese visitor arrivals from Dec. 1 to Tuesday were 44 percent lower than in the same period last year, with the number of group tourists dropping by 50.4 percent year-on-year.
From January to Tuesday, Chinese tourist arrivals declined 18.5 percent year-on-year, while the number visiting in tour groups fell 29.9 percent, agency figures showed.
Cross-strait relations have cooled since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office on May 20, due mainly to China’s insistence that the so-called “1992 consensus” is the sole political foundation for the development of cross-strait exchanges and the Tsai administration’s refusal to accept that precondition.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Beijing government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Since May 20, the Tsai government has said on several occasions that it respects the 1992 cross-strait meeting as a historical fact and looks forward to promoting cross-strait ties based on the existing foundation, Chiu said.
“We hope mainland China will look squarely at our statements, try to understand and respond accordingly,” the deputy minister said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS