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
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS