Business group urges Taiwan gov't to ease curbs on China measures

Taipei, April 20 (CNA) A Taiwanese business group on Monday urged the government to "ease or lift" restrictions in response to a slate of tourism and commercial measures announced by China.

At a news conference in Taipei, Paul Hsu (許舒博), chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China (ROCCOC), said both the government and the opposition should not be swayed by "partisan and noneconomic considerations."

Beijing's list of 10 Taiwan-focused measures was announced on April 12, two days after opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing.

They include the resumption of individual travel by residents of Shanghai and Fujian to Taiwan, the "full normalization" of direct cross-strait passenger flights, and expanded access for Taiwanese agricultural, fishery and food products to the Chinese market.

Amid calls from Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) for industry "not to echo the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or allow themselves to be used as tools to pressure the government," Hsu said none of the chamber's members had faced pressure from China.

He added that the government "should not use any means to prevent us from speaking," noting the chamber had received "phone calls" ahead of Monday's event.

Hsu, flanked by representatives from the tourism, food and transportation sectors, reiterated his call for the government to ease restrictions, saying the move would benefit both businesses and the public.

He also urged Chinese authorities not to abruptly suspend the new measures for "political reasons."

Stephanie Chang (張琄菡), vice president of the Hotel Association of the R.O.C., said reopening to Chinese tourists could raise Taiwan's hotel occupancy rate, currently around 50 percent, by at least 15 percentage points.

She noted that around 3 million Chinese visitors arrived annually when cross-strait tourism -- now largely suspended -- was at its peak.

In a statement on Sunday, MAC said China's measures were aimed at bypassing government authority and described them as a "political deal" between the CCP and the KMT.

It added that the policies "could not genuinely safeguard the interests of industries or the well-being of the public," warning that similar measures in the past had been introduced and suspended for political reasons, creating uncertainty and harming Taiwanese businesses.