Lai proposes talks with Beijing to ease tourism restrictions

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) has called China the "real barrier" to cross-strait exchanges and urged Beijing to hold talks with Taipei to ease tourism restrictions.

"The real barrier to cross-strait exchanges is actually China, not Taiwan," Lai said, referring to Beijing's restrictions on Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, during a question and answer session at the Presidential Office on Wednesday following his New Year's Day address.

"If China is genuinely sincere, I suggest that the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Association for Tourism Exchange across the Taiwan Straits begin negotiations [to ease those restrictions," Lai said.

The two associations were established by Taipei and Beijing, respectively, to facilitate coordination and negotiations between the two sides on tourism.

Lai cited government data as saying that the number of Taiwanese traveling to China for tourism or business reached 2.05 million between January and November in 2024, while only 285,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan during the same period.

The 2.05 million visitors were primarily individual travelers, as Taiwan's government currently does not allow Taiwanese citizens to travel to China in groups.

At the same time, Lai criticized Beijing for prohibiting Chinese students from pursuing degrees in Taiwan and for restricting tourists from visiting Taiwan.

The president made the comments after being asked about a pledge made by a Shanghai official during the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum earlier this month that the Chinese city planned to allow its residents to travel to Taiwan.

Currently, only residents from the Chinese province of Fujian are permitted to travel to Taiwan, but their visits are limited to Kinmen and Matsu, according to China's regulations.

As cross-Taiwan Strait relations remain strained and Beijing continues to refuse to engage in dialogue with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taipei, bilateral tourism has taken a hit, with both sides blaming each other for creating obstacles.

During the news conference, which began with Lai's New Year's Day address that barely touched on cross-strait issues, the president also said it was "not worth it" for Taiwanese to apply for a Chinese identification card, which will lead to the revocation of Taiwanese citizenship as per Taiwan's laws.

He was commenting on a video by a Taiwanese YouTuber which claimed that many Taiwanese had been encouraged to apply for Chinese ID cards, with around 100,000 Taiwanese having obtained the document.

The government will work to raise public awareness of the seriousness of the issue to better prevent Taiwanese from being tempted by "short-term gains" and "going down the wrong path."

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the top government agency handling cross-strait affairs, has said it would look into the matter.