The government has braced for China’s suspension of permits to individual travelers planning visits to Taiwan before elections in January next year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, adding that China’s mounting military drills in the region are unwise and irresponsible.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Wednesday abruptly announced in a one-sentence statement that 47 Chinese cities would stop issuing permits for individual tourists to Taiwan from yesterday due to the state of cross-strait relations, without specifying an effective period for the suspension.
Tsai said that she months ago ordered her administration to prepare for such a move by Beijing before the election, and thanked officials for immediately launching plans to boost domestic tourism.
Photo: CNA
To diminish the tourism industry’s reliance on Chinese visitors, the government has introduced many policies to attract tourists from other countries, she said, adding that the nation last year received a new high of more than 11 million foreign visitors.
Describing China’s suspension of individual travel permits as a “big mistake,” Tsai said that many young Chinese appear more “energetic” when visiting Taiwan after experiencing its free and democratic lifestyle without online limitations and constant surveillance.
China only appears more abominable to Taiwanese when it uses its citizens as a political bargaining chip, she said.
Meanwhile, China’s mounting military drills in regional waters and airspace have disturbed neighboring countries and deepened global distrust of China, Tsai said, describing Beijing’s actions as “unwise” and “irresponsible.”
She called on the public to unite in the face of such threats and reaffirmed the military ability to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Taiwan’s economic performance in the second quarter was better than that of the other three so-called “Asian dragons” — South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore — which demonstrated the nation’s ability to boost the economy in the face of international turbulence, she said, citing data released on Wednesday by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
A video of military drills released by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) late on Wednesday was intended to threaten the people of Hong Kong when the territory was at its tensest moment, Tsai said.
Asked if the video suggests that China might use its military to suppress protests in Hong Kong, Tsai said that more observation is needed.
“Beijing is celebrating Armed Forces Day in a most uncivilized fashion. The people of #HongKong are gifted a video of vile threats!” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official Twitter account.
“The PLA is supposed to protect the people, not pound them into submission. It’s time for authoritarian China to back off!” he wrote.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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