Beijing yesterday announced that starting today it is suspending a program that allowed individual tourists from 47 Chinese cities to travel to Taiwan, citing the current state of relations between the two sides.
Chinese nationals may only travel to Taiwan as tourists if they are part of tour groups, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement.
The ministry’s statement did not provide any further details as to the reason for the ban.
Photo: CNA
The unexpected move comes as China attempts to isolate Taiwan and President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.
Travel to Taiwan was opened to Chinese nationals in 2011, during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
The move might also be aimed at hurting Tsai’s re-election chances in the presidential election on Jan. 11 next year.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) declined to answer a question about the decision, asking reporters at a briefing in Beijing yesterday afternoon to talk to the relevant department for Taiwan affairs.
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement condemning the move, saying that cross-strait tourism is an important way of promoting better understanding.
It called on Beijing to discuss the issue with Taipei.
The Tourism Bureau said it regretted Beijing’s decision and hoped for a return to positive interaction with China.
“This is a shock to all of us. We are all very worried about it,” Taipei Association of Travel Agents chairman Benny Wu (吳志健) said by telephone. “This will have a huge impact on Taiwan’s tourism [industry] and economy.”
Spending by foreign tourists accounted for about 2.2 percent of GDP in 2017, the last year for which data is available, according to the bureau.
China was the largest single source of people visiting Taiwan and accounted for almost one-third of total visitors to the nation in May, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on data published by the bureau.
“As Taiwan is holding a presidential election soon, it’s not surprising that China is banning its citizens from visiting Taiwan,” KGI Securities Investment Advisory Co (凱基投顧) chairman Chu Yen-min (朱晏民) said.
“It seems to be a routine practice ahead of elections, as China doesn’t want its citizens to witness democracy,” Chu added. “The ban is expected to have a limited impact on Taiwan’s economy and stock market, as those hit are mostly not listed companies.”
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS