《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Accusations over tourism raise cross-strait tensions

Reuters, BEIJING and TAIPEI /

China and Taiwan have added tourism to their bones of contention since the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） swept to power in the Jan. 16 elections, trading accusations about who is to blame for a decline in Chinese visitors to Taiwan.

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China has made no secret of its dislike for incoming president Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文）, who takes office on Friday, and for her DPP.

Since the polls, the Republic of China has accused Beijing of effectively kidnapping its citizens from Kenya on suspicion of involvement in a telecoms fraud, and reacted angrily to China casting doubt on its observer status at the WHO.

Now the Chinese tourists who visit Taiwan — 4.2 million last year — have become the focus of discord.

The number fell 10 percent month-on-month to 363,878 in March, according to the Tourism Bureau.

That is still up on a year ago, but those who service the visitors, including the bus companies that shuttle tour groups around, said they are feeling the pinch.

“Chinese tourists took about 4,000 tour buses a month this time around last year, but now it’s only 2,800,” National Joint Association of Tourist Buses head Alex Lu （魯孝亞） said.

“China is using its tourists as a bargaining chip against Taiwan’s new government,” he added.

If Tsai’s inauguration speech upsets Beijing, many fear China could really turn the screws on tourist numbers.

“This kind of political interference would only result in hurt feelings for people on either side of the Taiwan Strait,” Executive Yuan spokesman-designate Tung Chen-yuan （童振源） said.

The travel industry is nervous.

“Everyone is waiting to see how China will react to the inauguration speech,” Eva Airways vice president Golden Kou said.

Two tour agents said they had been told to restrict the numbers they send to Taiwan since the election.

“The [Chinese] National Tourism Administration told us in February and March to cut the number of tourists we send to Taiwan,” an agent in Xiamen said.

“From Xiamen the number of tourists has fallen sharply, down more than 50 percent,” said the agent, who asked to be identified only as Chen （陳）.

An agent in Guangdong Province, who gave her family name as Kuang （關）, said Chinese were “still fascinated with Taiwan,” but the government had cut the number allowed to visit.

A Beijing source with knowledge of China’s policy on Taiwan tourism said there had been technical problems in some provinces, including Henan, which ran out of application forms for Taiwan tourist permits.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment, and the relevant office at the China National Tourism Administration declined to comment.

China’s state media blames Taiwan.

The Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily last week said Taiwan’s fiddling with the quota system was causing the fall in numbers.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES