China urged to lift restrictions on travel to Taiwan

Taipei, Aug. 21 (CNA) China can show goodwill in the stalled resumption of cross-Taiwan Strait tourism-oriented travel, by first allowing Chinese tourists to visit the Kinmen Islands for a major holiday in early October, a lawmaker representing the Taiwan-controlled islands said Wednesday.

In a statement released that day, Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) said that a delegation she is a member of will bring up the issue of cross-strait tourism along with other topics involving Kinmen when it meets with Song Tao (宋濤), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, in Beijing on Thursday.

Following the first post-COVID-19 Chinese tour group to visit the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands in early August, allowing similar visits to Kinmen would mark another important step in the resumption of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, and Taiwanese group tourist travel to China, said the legislator of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

Allowing Chinese tourists to visit Kinmen during China's Oct. 1 "Golden Week" holiday would create positive interactions in rebuilding relations between Taiwan and China, she added.

Chen said the delegation will also bring up during Thursday's meeting with Song a suggestion by the Mainland Affairs Council that if China lists Taiwan as a designation Chinese tourists can visit, Taiwan will allow local travel agencies to organize group tours to China.

Other issues on which the delegation plans to table proposals "crucial to developments in Kinmen" during the meeting with Song, include China permitting its citizens to study in Kinmen, according to the statement.

Other topics listed in the statement include the establishment of a joint trading platform for agricultural and fishery products in waters around Kinmen and China's Xiamen, located less than 10 kilometers away, and allowing Kinmen-based financial institutes to set up operations in Xiamen.

The delegation, led by Kinmen County Council Speaker Hung Yun-tien (洪允典) of the KMT, arrived in Beijing Wednesday evening.

Its members for the four-day visit include several Kinmen County councilors, Travel Quality Assurance Association executive Chen Yi-hsuan (陳怡璇), and officials of tourism promotion groups in Kinmen, according to Chen.

Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told CNA that Taiwan is open to Chinese tourists, students and religious practitioners, blaming China for politicizing related issues, in an interview on Aug. 14.

Meanwhile, Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party told reporters in Taipei Wednesday that Taiwan's government welcomes Chinese tourists.

It is the Chinese authorities that restrict where Chinese tourists can visit, Chuang said, adding that he also hopes to see China show goodwill by first lifting those restrictions, without the precondition of Taiwan making certain arrangements regarding relations across the Taiwan Strait.

Travel links between Taiwan and China have been largely frozen for the past three years, due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic.

China halted independent travel to Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2019, citing the poor state of cross-strait relations. It then suspended group travel to Taiwan in 2020.

Taiwan briefly lifted its ban on China-bound group trips on March 1 as border controls were phased out after the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the ban was quickly reinstated except for trips organized before June 1.

On April 28, Beijing announced an easing of travel restrictions, which it said would take effect pending the resumption of direct ferry traffic between Matsu and Pingtan County in Fujian.