Matsu officials yesterday welcomed a recent decision by China's Fujian Province to allow its residents to make sightseeing trips to Kinmen and Matsu.
Responding to the news, Lienchiang County Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) instructed county officials to activate measures already in place aimed at facilitating exchanges, including tourism, between Matsu and China.
Chen welcomed the Fujian authorities' announcement that it will allow citizens to make Kinmen and Matsu-bound tourism trips before the end of this year, saying that this openness reflects the spirit of the "small three links" that Taiwan initiated nearly three years ago aimed at bolstering exchanges between people from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
According to Chen, the Chinese authorities announced on Friday that they will allow 80 to 100 people from Fujian Province to visit Matsu each day for sightseeing purposes.
Taiwan opened direct postal, trade and shipping links between Kinmen and Matsu and Xiamen and Mawei in January 2002.
However, China has up to this point not allowed its citizens to travel to Kinmen and Matsu for leisure trips. So far, only 448 party and government officials of China have visited the two islands -- 165 to Kinmen and 283 to Matsu.
Chen said that he met with Fujian Governor Lu Zhangong (盧展工) during a business promotion trip to Fujian in May and once again pushed China to allow citizens to take holidays in Kinmen and Matsu, taking advantage of the "small three links."
Lienchiang County Council Speaker Chen Chen-ching (陳振清) noted that he has also pushed for sightseeing trips by Chinese to Kinmen and Matsu, and has told Chinese authorities he will do whatever he can to help such trips.
Matsu-based Legislator Tsao Yuan-chang (
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