Taiwan's gov't U-turns on planned lifting of China group travel ban

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Tourism Administration took a policy U-turn Wednesday by deciding to maintain a three-year ban on Taiwanese tour groups traveling to China, citing Beijing's failure to send Chinese group tourists reciprocally.

"Considering changes in the current situation and factors such as travel safety for Taiwanese nationals, the original plan will no longer proceed," the administration said in a statement.

The administration was referring to a decision in November 2023, which allowed local travel agencies to start arranging trip schedules for tour groups to China starting March 1, 2024.

Originally, Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said at a November plenary session of the Legislature that the Cabinet would announce an end to cross-strait travel restrictions by the Lunar New Year, to be effective March.

By allowing Taiwanese tour groups to visit China, the government will also reopen Taiwan's borders to tour groups from China, Wang added.

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Wang's remarks represented a change in the government's attitude expressed in May 2023 and a statement made by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top government agency in charge of cross-Taiwan Strait affairs, in late August.

Taipei did not respond positively on May 19 when Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光), spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said that Chinese travel agencies would be allowed to resume business involving receiving Taiwanese group tourists effective immediately.

Instead, then Tourism Bureau chief Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰) said regulations on group travel should be negotiated through existing channels -- the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits -- though Taiwan welcomed China's announcement.

On Wednesday, the Tourism Administration said it had to cancel the planned policy because "the time is not yet right to resume our travel agency's group tours to China."

The administration explained that in addition to China's reluctance to proceed with the reciprocal arrangement, a recent unilateral adjustment of its flight path close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait also posed a concern to flight safety.

China put an end to an "offset measure" for the southbound operation of the M503 flight path -- which is west of the median line of the Taiwan Strait-- on Feb. 1, as well as started eastbound operation of routes W122 and W123, which connect M503 with Fuzhou and Xiamen cities in Fujian Province.

In the statement on Wednesday, the Tourism Administration urged China to "change the attitude towards Taiwan and convey goodwill."

Meanwhile, as to arranged group travel with departure dates between March 1 and May 31, the groups can still proceed in order to protect the rights of tourists and the interests of local travel agencies, the administration said.