Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's government will lift its three-year ban on Taiwanese tour groups traveling to China and end restrictions on cross-strait travel in March 2024, the Cabinet said on Friday.
At a regular briefing at the Legislature in Taipei, Minister of Transportation and Communication Wang Kwo-tsai (王國財) said Taiwan is set to announce the policy change by Lunar New Year in 2024 and that the policy will take effect from March 1.
Wang made the announcement when questioned by opposition Kuomintang (KMT)lawmaker Yu Yu-lan (游毓蘭), who referred to the earlier remark of Hsiao Po-jen (蕭博仁), president of Taiwan's Travel Agent Association, that the move will be made next year.
Asked whether the policy has been finalized, Wang said it is the consensus reached by the Cabinet officials, but there's a possibility it might be changed according to the result of the presidential election next January.
Asked whether the policy has been finalized, Wang said it is the consensus reached by the Cabinet officials, but there is a possibility that the policy could be subject to change if the party winning the presidential election in January 2024 holds a different perspective.
By allowing Taiwanese tour groups to visit China, the Taiwanese government will also reopen its borders to tour groups from China, Wang said.
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That change was confirmed by a statement issued by the Tourism Administration the same day. It said that tourism companies can start arranging trip schedules for tour groups to China starting March 1, 2024.
Wang's remark represents a change in the government's attitude expressed in May and a statement made by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top government agency in charge of cross-Taiwan Strait affairs, in late August.
Taiwan's government did not respond positively on May 19 when Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光), spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), announced that Chinese travel agencies would be allowed to resume business involving receiving Taiwanese group tourists from that day immediately.
Instead, Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰), who headed the then Tourism Bureau, said regulations on group travel should be negotiated through existing channels - the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, though Taiwan welcomed China's announcement.
That matter seemed to take a step forward when the MAC announced in late August that Taiwan will allow Chinese nationals living abroad, in Hong Kong or Macau, to apply to enter Taiwan as tourists.
The MAC, meanwhile, said Taiwan will allow Chinese nationals to apply to enter the country on short-term business visas from Aug. 28, and will also begin a one-month "preparation period," after which Chinese tour groups may be allowed to enter.
However, the exact starting date will be decided after China's response is taken into consideration, said the MAC, which did not make any further announcement on that matter as China remained unresponsive so far.
Asked by Yu on Friday why the government was now announcing a relaxing of restrictions, Wang said the government at that time hoped to see reciprocity from the Chinese side, meaning that China allow its tour groups to visit Taiwan, but some domestic travel agents said they have been seriously impacted by the cross-strait travel ban over the past few years.
According to the statement issued by the Tourism Administration, the latest move signals a friendly gesture from Taiwan, and the ban could be lifted earlier if China responds to it positively.
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Beijing has banned independent Chinese tourists from visiting Taiwan since August 2019 and group travel since 2020, due to tensions with the current Taiwanese administration.
The MAC has not responded to Wang's announcement by press deadline.
