Beijing vows to ease curbs on trips to Taiwan (Reuters) Updated: 2006-02-25 10:14
BEIJING - Mainland government pledged on Friday to ease curbs
on tourists visiting Taiwan as part of efforts to win over the people of the
Taiwan island.
Mainland has issued volleys of rhetoric against Taiwan "president" Chen
Shui-bian this week over his plan to scrap a council advising on eventual
unification with the mainland and said it was ready to deal with "any possible
complicated situation."
But Beijing on Friday stopped short of saying the abolition of the
15-year-old National Unification Council and unification guidelines would mean
war and instead repeated their previous offers of economic sweeteners.
Dai Xiaofeng, a senior official at the mainland's policy-making Taiwan
Affairs Office, said Beijing would soon announce a set of specific regulations
on managing trips by mainland residents to the island, a ban on which was
removed last May.
"We hope Taiwan authorities can bow to public opinion and take a practical
and positive attitude on the issue of opening up to mainland tourists," Dai told
a news conference.
The mainland has taken a stick-and-carrot approach since 2005, when it hosted
heads of Taiwan's three pro-unification opposition parties and offered the
sweeteners that also include scrapping tariffs on Taiwan fruits imports and the
gift of a pair of pandas.
But it also refused to deal with Chen's government of the
independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party and passed an Anti-Secession
Law last March mandating the use of "non-peaceful means" if Taiwan slips toward
formal independence.
Li Weiyi, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, dodged questions on
whether Chen's latest move, which many speculate could happen as early as next
Tuesday, would evoke any "non-peaceful means" from China.
"Let's just see what his next step and his intention are," Li said.
Taiwan has cautiously welcomed the tourism offer, saying it could accommodate
1,000 mainland tourists a day and might allow them to stay for up to 10 days,
which analysts say would boost hotel sales at best by 15 percent.
But no formal negotiations have taken place, despite the visit to the island
by mainland's tourism minister Shao Qiwei last October.
While both mainland and Taiwan have restricted visits across
the Strait and the latter bans direct air links on
grounds, a small number of mainlanders are now able to travel to Taiwan,
mostly on business. But the figure is marginal compared to the 4.1 million trips
to the mainland last year by Taiwan people, who have invested billions of
dollars in the mainland.
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