Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi yesterday touted breakthroughs in his leading of a KMT delegation to Beijing, describing the visit as an “ice-breaker trip” that facilitated Chinese tourists being allowed to visit Taiwan again.
At a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, Fu, who led a delegation of 17 KMT lawmakers to Beijing from Friday to Sunday, and met with senior Chinese officials, said China has agreed to resume direct air routes between Taiwan and 30 major Chinese cities.
Currently, there are only 15 airports in Taiwan and China which operate cross-strait flights, fewer than one-quarter of the 61 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: CNA
In addition, residents of 20 densely populated cities in China, including the four directly administered municipalities — Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing — would be allowed to apply for a permit to visit Taiwan from the Chinese authorities online, Fu said.
Fu also mentioned other measures, such as China permitting people from Chinese-controlled Fujian Province to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu) and expanding access to Taiwanese agricultural and fishery products in the Chinese market.
Fu urged the government to respond to China’s request for the resumption of flights, adding that it would enable nearly 50 million residents of China’s Fujian Province to travel to Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Sunday said that such arrangements neither adhere to the principle of reciprocal opening, nor conform to the norms of tourism, adding that subsequent decisions would be made by the MAC and other relevant departments.
Travel links between Taiwan and China have been largely frozen for the past three years, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China halted independent travel to Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2019, citing the poor state of cross-strait relations. It suspended group travel to Taiwan in 2020.
Meanwhile, when asked about 12 Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait on April 27, Fu yesterday did not respond specifically.
“I want to emphasize once again that this visit by the KMT is aimed at listening to all sectors in Taiwan and consistently advocating for the well-being and contentment of Taiwanese people, while also working toward improving cross-strait relations,” he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party caucus yesterday demanded transparency, asking the KMT lawmakers “to make clear to the public what conditions and concessions were offered in their talks with officials in Beijing.”
The KMT caucus is treating China’s “small favor as a great kindness and great virtue,” DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan and Hsieh Chun-lin
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS