During Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (
It's hard not to laugh when reading such reports, which seem to suggest that all Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan will be high-rollers. The whole prospect has been wildly exaggerated. If such reports were to be believed, the Chinese are the richest people in the world.
It is true that some of the Chinese tourists are big spenders. The government is formulating strict policies to regulating the visits of Chinese tourists. Except for people who are visiting their relatives and working in this country or traveling with organized groups, most of these travellers are Chinese government officials or employees of China's state-run enterprises. Since they do not have to spend their own money while travelling here, it is hardly surprising that they spend freely.
The government should not allow unrestricted Chinese tourism. Leaving aside China's political and military threats against Taiwan, Chinese tourists remaining in this country after their visas expire or using tourism as a pretext to find work and other issues will lead to social and legal problems. Since Taiwan is a small nation it would only take a wave of a few hundred thousand illegal workers and immigrants to cause social order in Taiwan to collapse.
As for the political and security risks, who does not believe that Beijing would use the door opened by legal tourism to build a more far-reaching and comprehensive spy network in this country? If China were to launch an attack, this fifth column could attack the national defense network.
The issue of Chinese tourism has considerable economic implications as well. Given China's huge population, 2 million visits a year would not be at all impossible. This presents a bright prospect for Taiwan's airline, tourism and restaurant industries, with the probability of massive construction to meet increased demand. The result of this would be to put Taiwan's neck more firmly than ever in China's noose, because Beijing could just as easily halt the flow of tourists to this country and these industries would bear the brunt of such a blow.
After China announced that it would permit tourism to Taiwan, reports from Shanghai revealed that the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee had ordered the media to refrain from reporting on this matter. There has been no further word from Beijing about how tourism to Taiwan is to be handled, further raising suspicion as to the motives behind China's proposal.
The whole Chinese tourism offer is likely a ploy by Beijing to use Taiwan's pro-China forces to assist it in further deepening the domestic rifts over cross-strait policy. The government should give China the same answer to its offer of tourists as it did its offer of pandas -- thanks, but no thanks.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then