Global Courant
TAIPEI — Taiwan rejected applications from Chinese tourist officials to enter the island for an international travel grant in July, authorities said Thursday, citing the current “cross-strait situation” with China.
China views self-governed democratic Taiwan as part of its territory — which will one day be taken, by force if necessary — and exchanges between the two sides have eased amid political tensions and pandemic-induced border closures.
Taiwan reopened its borders to most tourists in October 2022, but those from the mainland remain blocked. The island also does not allow tour groups from its territory to enter China, although individual travelers are free to do so.
The organizers of the Taipei International Summer Travel Exposition had invited provincial tourism officials from China, but the officials’ applications were rejected “after taking into account the overall situation across the strait,” the National Immigration Agency said Thursday.
“There are doubts about the necessity, urgency and irreplaceability of their participation, and therefore their applications are not approved,” the statement said.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which deals with Taiwan Strait issues, said entry permits had been denied to about 70 officials.
But “nearly 200 (tourist) operators and actors” from China were still present at the fair, spokesman Jan Jyh-horng said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had criticized Taipei on Wednesday over travel restrictions on group tours from Taiwan to the mainland.
“They must face the wishes and expectations of the majority of Taiwanese and the tourism industry and lift the unreasonable restrictions on group travel,” spokesman Zhu Fenglian said.
The spokesperson added that Taiwan also needs to “create conditions for exchanges between the tourism industry across the strait”.
But Mr Jan said on Thursday there have been cases of Taiwanese people facing “all kinds of harassment, detention and unfriendly treatment” since Beijing reopened borders in January.
“Since the beginning of this year, there have been people who have gone missing and not been released or who have been returned on the same flights,” he said, without specifying the number of cases.
He added that scholars and experts had increasingly expressed concern about traveling to China for seminars or meetings.
“We certainly hope that mainland China will improve its travel environment as soon as possible.”
In April, Mr. Li Yanhe — a Chinese-born publisher based in Taiwan whose printing company has released books critical of the Communist Party of China — was reported missing when he visited Shanghai.
Beijing later confirmed that Li was under investigation for “endangering national security”.
Since 2016, Taiwan has experienced a sharp drop in tourism from the mainland after President Tsai Ing-wen – who has rejected China’s claim to the island – took office. AFP
