Taiwanese officials yesterday slammed Beijing’s “futile” efforts to court the nation’s young people after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) unveiled a paperwork fee waiver for first-time visitors from Taiwan.
Chinese border officials would no longer charge Taiwanese making their maiden trip to China for their travel permits from next month to the end of the year, TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) told a news conference in Beijing.
The measure — which would reduce the equivalent of NT$1,500 in expenses for some Taiwanese travelers — is to facilitate youth attendance in “welcomed exchanges between young friends across the Strait,” she said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Interested Taiwanese from various walks of life are encouraged to attend TAO activities slated for the second half of the year to take part in the “integration and development of the two sides,” she said.
The TAO has previously said that first-time Taiwanese visitors to China would be allowed to visit 1,256 places for free from next month to December.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-long (賴瑞隆) yesterday said that Beijing had ulterior motives in unveiling the waiver, which is a trick taken out of the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook for “united front” work.
“China hopes to win young Taiwanese to its side by offering benefits of insignificant value, even as it refuses to show Taiwan any goodwill, so its efforts will be in vain,” he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged Taiwanese to put their personal safety ahead of whatever benefit China is offering and weigh the risks carefully before traveling.
Taiwanese nationals have an abundance of options for visa-free travel without fearing for their freedom or safety, it said.
The arbitrary detention and unexplained disappearances of numerous Taiwanese in the past few years at the hands of Chinese officials prove that Chinese law is as uncertain, inconsistent and opaque as ever, the council said.
“We think that reducing fees by NT$1,500 would be of little use in attracting young Taiwanese,” it said.
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