Taiwan to ease China travel ban

Taiwan is moving to relax a 50-year-old ban on mainland Chinese tourists

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan says it will partly ease decades-old curbs on Chinese visiting the island in a goodwill gesture towards its political rival Beijing ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections.

The Executive Yuan, or cabinet, decided to allow tour groups of mainland Chinese living or studying overseas to visit Taiwan, the island's top China policymaker told Reuters news agency.

Those in China who are not eligible to travel to Taiwan at present will still be barred under the new system, which starts next year.

"It is a crucial step towards normalizing ties between the two sides of the Strait," Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council, told a news conference.

Taiwan said it would open its doors wider if China reciprocates the island's goodwill.

The move follows Taipei easing curbs on trade and investment this month in the lead up to the December 1 elections.

A government statement said a daily quota of 1,000 visitors would be allowed.

Chinese visits

Extra tourists may boost Taiwan's sagging economy

At the moment Chinese are restricted to either visiting relatives on the island, covering news or for cultural and educational exchanges. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.

In the first nine months of this year, more than 12,500 Chinese visited Taiwan compared with about 12,150 last year, according to the Mainland Affairs Council.

Johnson Tseng, chairman of the Taipei Association of Travel Agents, welcomed the opening saying it was "better than nothing."

"Chinese tourists spent more than their Japanese counterparts in Hong Kong last year," Tseng told Reuters, adding that Chinese visitors would generate annual tourism revenues of about T$100 billion (US$2.9 billion) for the island.

The liberalization, one of the proposals made by a presidential advisory body in August, was restricted to mainlanders overseas coming in tour groups because Taipei and Beijing are not on talking terms.

"It's easier to manage in the absence of talks," Tsai said of tour groups. "Visitors jumping ship and repatriation problems can be avoided."

Boost ailing economy

Tsai Ing-wen says it is a key step towards normalizing cross-Strait ties

Opening Taiwan's doors wider to China is seen as part of efforts to boost the island's faltering domestic economy, which is expected to post its first full-year contraction.

Taiwan had promised allowing Chinese tourists to visit from June this year, but delayed that because Beijing refused to resume stalled dialogue with Taipei.

China angrily froze talks with Taiwan in 1999 after then president Lee Teng-hui unilaterally redefined bilateral ties as "special state-to-state."

Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to attack if the island declared independence or dragged its feet on unification talks.

Despite economic and trade liberalizations, there has been little progress on the political front between Beijing and Taipei, bitter political rivals since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

Beijing remains deeply suspicious of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who swept to power last year ending more than five decades of Nationalist Party rule.

Despite tensions, Taiwan investors have poured $60 billion into China since rapprochement began in the late 1980s, lured by low land and labor costs and a common language and culture.