The government has braced for China’s suspension of permits to individual travelers planning visits to Taiwan before elections in January next year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, adding that China’s mounting military drills in the region are unwise and irresponsible.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Wednesday abruptly announced in a one-sentence statement that 47 Chinese cities would stop issuing permits for individual tourists to Taiwan from yesterday due to the state of cross-strait relations, without specifying an effective period for the suspension.
Tsai said that she months ago ordered her administration to prepare for such a move by Beijing before the election, and thanked officials for immediately launching plans to boost domestic tourism.
Photo: CNA
To diminish the tourism industry’s reliance on Chinese visitors, the government has introduced many policies to attract tourists from other countries, she said, adding that the nation last year received a new high of more than 11 million foreign visitors.
Describing China’s suspension of individual travel permits as a “big mistake,” Tsai said that many young Chinese appear more “energetic” when visiting Taiwan after experiencing its free and democratic lifestyle without online limitations and constant surveillance.
China only appears more abominable to Taiwanese when it uses its citizens as a political bargaining chip, she said.
Meanwhile, China’s mounting military drills in regional waters and airspace have disturbed neighboring countries and deepened global distrust of China, Tsai said, describing Beijing’s actions as “unwise” and “irresponsible.”
She called on the public to unite in the face of such threats and reaffirmed the military ability to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Taiwan’s economic performance in the second quarter was better than that of the other three so-called “Asian dragons” — South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore — which demonstrated the nation’s ability to boost the economy in the face of international turbulence, she said, citing data released on Wednesday by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
A video of military drills released by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) late on Wednesday was intended to threaten the people of Hong Kong when the territory was at its tensest moment, Tsai said.
Asked if the video suggests that China might use its military to suppress protests in Hong Kong, Tsai said that more observation is needed.
“Beijing is celebrating Armed Forces Day in a most uncivilized fashion. The people of #HongKong are gifted a video of vile threats!” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official Twitter account.
“The PLA is supposed to protect the people, not pound them into submission. It’s time for authoritarian China to back off!” he wrote.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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