The right to travel to and from China under the "small three links" will be expanded from tomorrow, when amendments to certain administrative orders are approved at today's Cabinet meeting, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
The amendments will entitle Fujian-based Taiwanese businessmen, their spouses, parents and children and those of Kinmen and Matsu residents as well as Fujian-based Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens to enjoy the same rights as those currently enjoyed by Kinmen and Matsu residents.
"They will be able to apply to travel via the route as soon as Aug. 1," said Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成), director of the MAC's Department of Economic Affairs.
Fu said, "There is already a consensus in the Cabinet. The amendments will be approved."
The amendment will take effect immediately after being publicly announced by the Cabinet, which is expected to mean that prospective travellers may apply for permission to travel from tomorrow.
He said the amendments would also eventually allow goods from Taiwan proper, required by Fujian-based Taiwanese businessmen, to be transferred via the same route. However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is still working on the list of items involved and is not expected to announce it until the end of August.
Under current rules, only residents of Kinmen and Matsu are allowed to travel directly to China. The amendments, according to Fu, are aimed at expanding the effects of the policy and to help boost economic activity in the two islands, as requested by their county governments.
In addition, at yesterday's briefing, Fu said that the MAC hoped to persuade the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD,
Currently, Chinese businessmen are barred from coming to Taiwan. However, as the MAC is proposing an administrative order to lift the ban and to govern the entry and exit of Chinese businessmen in Taiwan, Fu pledged yesterday that the MAC would include in its own administrative order a regulation on the issue.
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Admitting that the MAC still has a different view from the CEPD, Fu, however, said that the MAC would make "reasonable" and "liberal" regulations to satisfy the CEPD's needs to promote the free trade zones.
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