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
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