KMT caucus whip touts tourism wins following China 'ice-breaker trip'

04/29/2024 05:19 PM. Taipei, April 29 Kuomintang legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi on Monday highlighted breakthroughs made following his leading of a KMT delegation to Beijing, describing the visit as an "Ice-breaker trip" that facilitated allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan. At a press conference in the Legislative Yuan, Fu, who led a delegation of 17 KMT lawmakers to Beijing from April 26 to 28 and met with senior Chinese officials, said that China has agreed to resume direct air routes between Taiwan and 30 major Chinese cities. Other measures, such as China permitting tourists from Fujian Province to visit the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands and expanding access to Taiwanese agricultural and fishery products in the Chinese market were also mentioned by Fu. On April 28, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism said residents of Fujian Province would be allowed to participate in group tours to other parts of Taiwan after the resumption of sea transport between the Chinese county Pingtan, located in Fujian province, and Taiwan. Regarding the quota of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan, Fu said Taiwan aims to limit the number to 2,000 per day, which raises concerns regarding how spots will be allocated when tourists from the 30-plus provinces in China become eligible for entry. When asked about the incident of 12 Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait on April 27, the second day of Fu's trip to Beijing, the KMT legislative caucus whip failed to specifically respond. In response to China's request for the resumption of transport between Pingtan and Taiwan as a condition for Fujian residents' being permitted to take part in tours to Taiwan, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a press release on Sunday that such arrangements neither adhere to the principle of reciprocal opening nor conform to the norms of tourism. Travel links between Taiwan and China have been largely frozen for the past three years, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.