Chinese tourists may start visiting parts of Taiwan again as early as next month after a three-year freeze, according to an opposition lawmaker whose constituency sits on a group of islands off the coast of mainland China.
Travellers from the southeastern province of Fujian would be allowed to reach the nearby outlying Taiwan-controlled islets of Penghu, Matsu and Quemoy, which is also known as Kinmen, Taiwanese legislator Chen Yu-jen told the Post.
Chen has asked Taiwan authorities to move forward with lifting a ban on mainland Chinese travellers that has been in place since early 2020.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
“The help from those tourists would be huge,” said Chen, who represents Quemoy in the Taiwanese parliament for the opposition Kuomintang party.
“The restaurants, the guest houses, everyone has been missing these tourists for several years.”
Mainland officials barred Chinese citizens from independent travel to Taiwan in 2019, citing the state of overall bilateral relations, although group tours were still permitted.
In 2020, Taiwan halted all inbound tourism as part of its coronavirus prevention measures before reopening its borders in October, although it continues to ban mainland Chinese travellers.
‘Willing to spend’: Taiwan tourism sector misses mainlanders as ban persists
Last week, the government’s Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei said any resumption would first require “communication” and “planning”.
“The partial and potentially further resumption of tourism could serve as an initial step towards rebuilding trust and fostering understanding between people across the strait,” said Wang Wei-chieh, a Taiwan-based foreign affairs analyst.
But Beijing has not placed Quemoy, Matsu and Penghu on its “list of offshore travel destinations”, the Mainland Affairs Council told the Post on Tuesday.
“Our council will pay close attention to related developments and include that in our assessment,” the statement added.
Mainland China ‘absolutely’ wants full reopening of sea routes with Taiwan
Ferries from mainland China to Quemoy and Matsu, which opened in 2001 – seven years before all of Taiwan allowed mainland Chinese travellers – carried a record 248 million people in 2018.
Before the ban in 2020, mainland Chinese tourists would charter buses to visit Quemoy’s historic courtyard houses and military relics dating back to the 1950s.
Penghu, a 64-islet windswept archipelago also known as Pescadores that is famous for its beaches, lies further from mainland China, but is not linked to Fujian province by a direct ferry.
The three outlying island groups, with a total population of around 350,000, are popular with Taiwanese tourists on weekends, but businesses would welcome mainland Chinese visitors on weekdays, said Bian Chieh-min, general manager of Phoenix Tours in Taipei.
“We’re open now to everyone else except mainland tourists – only the mainland is still outstanding – so operators in the travel business are holding out hope,” Bian said.
Quemoy lawmaker Chen regularly visits Fujian province, which is just a 20-minute ferry ride from Kinmen, for talks with mainland officials.
“They want more dialogue with Taiwan and more of an opening,” she added.
Mainland China will probably, according to Chen, approach Taiwan about allowing Quemoy’s fishing boats to sell their catch in the mainland city of Xiamen.
Taiwan’s plan to pay tourists has Covid-hit travel firms licking their lips
Local fishing enterprises are “numerous” and keen on the idea, she said.
Chen is also pushing for up to 1,000 mainland Chinese undergraduates to attend National Quemoy University, a science and engineering-specialised campus of 3,700 students, and to let mainland Chinese visitors to use the “high-quality” medical services.
“We hope ties with mainland China will be increasingly close,” Chen added.
More from South China Morning Post:
- As Taiwan export orders fall for eighth straight month, chips for GPT-type AI seen as long-term fix
- US-Taiwan trade deal seen speeding up Taiwan’s shipping and boosting start-ups; Beijing quiet so far
- Tech war tax deal with Taiwan could further isolate China as US seeks to ‘ensure own long-term supply’
- Taiwan evaluating proposal for Asia’s first 4-day work week, but manufacturers ‘won’t approve’
- Taiwan exports fall for eighth straight month, hurting hopes of quick turnaround in world tech centre
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2023.
