While it is official policy to expand the "small three links," the government is unlikely to allow all Chinese visitors to Kinmen and Matsu, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
The expansion of the "small three links" should be designed to boost tourism in Kinmen and Matsu, Chen told reporters after yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting.
He said the council had recently proposed several measures to relax cross-strait economic policy, but many of theses were still in the planning stage.
He said he didn't know when the measures would go into effect because there were certain procedures that had to be completed first.
His comments came in response to a report published in yesterday's Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper).
The report said that the administration is planning to expand the "small three links" to the "medium three links" to allow more Taiwanese tourists to visit China and vice versa.
Under the plan, all Taiwanese heading to China would have to travel via Kinmen or Matsu and stay there overnight, the report said, and Chinese nationals visiting Taiwan would have to do the same.
The report quoted Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) as saying that it was possible to change the administrative status of Kinmen and Matsu to a "special administrative zone," given the special requirement of departures to China.
Only Taiwanese businesspeople based in Fujian Province were allowed to use the "small three links" route to return to Taiwan when the policy was first implemented, Chen Ming-tong said.
But in 2004 the government expanded the policy to cover all Taiwanese businesspeople who were registered as being based in China, he said, as well as veterans, religious pilgrims and academic groups, he said.
It is unlikely that all Chinese visitors visiting Taiwan would travel via the "small three links" because Kinmen airport could not handle that number of travelers, Chen Ming-tong said.
While more than 4 million Taiwanese visited China last year, the Kinmen airport can only process an estimated 10,000 visitors a day, the MAC chief said.
As the charter flight services are expected to become more frequent and eventually lead to direct flights, he said it might be a waste of resources to invest in Kinmen airport because Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is likely to become the main port of entry.
"To ensure Kinmen residents benefit from the expansion of transportation links is key," he said, adding that since the "small three links" went into effect, more than 700 Chinese tourists and businesspeople traveled to or via Kinmen every day.
Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said he had no information regarding any change in the administrative status of Kinmen and Matsu, nor was the issue discussed during yesterday's Cabinet meeting.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS