Taiwan has rejected applications by Chinese tourism officials to enter the nation for an international travel fair next month, authorities said yesterday, citing the “cross-strait situation” with China.
Taiwan reopened its borders to most tourists in October last year, but those from China remain barred. It also does not allow Taiwanese tour groups to visit China, but individual travelers are free to go there.
Organizers of the Taipei International Summer Travel Exposition had invited provincial tourism officials from China, but their applications were rejected “after taking into consideration the overall cross-strait situation,” the National Immigration Agency said yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
“There are doubts over the necessity, urgency and irreplaceability of their participation, and therefore their applications are not approved,” it said in a statement.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that about 70 officials had their entry permits denied.
However, “nearly 200 [tourism] operators and actors” from China will still be attending the fair, MAC spokesman Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏) said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) had on Wednesday criticized Taipei for the travel restrictions on group tours from Taiwan to China, adding that Taiwan should “create conditions for cross-strait tourism industry exchanges.”
“They should face up to the wishes and expectations of the majority of Taiwanese people and the tourism industry, and lift the unreasonable restrictions on group tours,” TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said.
Taiwan should also “create conditions for cross-strait tourism industry exchanges,” she added.
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
RSS