Chinese tour groups could start arriving in Taiwan in May if unofficial talks with China go well, a newspaper said yesterday.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) quoted an unnamed official as saying that Taipei and Beijing were expected to soon hold the final round of the unofficial talks on allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
"Both sides are eager to finish the talks as soon as possible, so if everything goes smoothly, we could announce the decision in mid-April and mainland tourist groups will start arriving in Taiwan on May 1," the Liberty Times quoted the official as saying.
In 1987, Taiwan allowed its citizens to go to China for family reunions, sightseeing and business but continued to bar Chinese from visiting Taiwan for national security reasons.
The talks have dragged on for years but have failed to bear fruit because Beijing has refused to hold official talks with Taiwan.
China announced a new round of charter flights with Taiwan yesterday in an effort to temporarily skirt a ban on direct transportation links.
Eleven Chinese and Taiwanese carriers will fly 42 round trips through April 8 to coincide with the Tomb-sweeping Festival, China's official Xinhua news agency said yesterday.
Flights will service Taipei and Kaohsiung and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen in China.
The flights were agreed to last year during negotiations between private aviation associations.
Direct charter flights have been gradually expanding to cater to the needs of Taiwanese residents in China, although they remain confined to major holidays, including the Lunar New Year holiday. The charters are off-limits to non-Taiwanese.
Taiwan's government is considering an expansion of charters to allow Chinese tourists to fly directly to the island, instead of by way of third countries as they are required to do so now.
Under pressure from the domestic tourist industry, Taiwan has been looking for ways to expand the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit the country each year to 365,000, almost 10 times the current number.
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