ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said his administration’s policy of opening Taiwan to solo mainland Chinese tourists is a success and will play an important role in the peaceful development of Taipei-Beijing relations.
“Individual visits by mainland Chinese to Taiwan permit deeper people-to-people exchanges between the two sides and are conducive to preserving the cross-strait status quo,” Ma said. “This is also a great opportunity for more mainland Chinese to experience firsthand Taiwan’s soft power and culture.”
Ma, who doubles as the ruling Kuomintang chairman, made the remarks at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting July 13 in Taipei, during which Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan reported on ROC relations with mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
According to Lai, there were no overstays from the first batch of 278 solo mainland Chinese visitors that arrived in Taiwan June 28 and departed July 12.
“The program is off to a good start and we expect both sides to take full advantage of this significant opportunity to improve cross-strait relations,” Lai said.
The minister added that Taiwan and mainland China will continue working to expand the scope of the travel program, which at present is only open to residents of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
The president said that despite some concerns over possible problems with the program, nothing untoward has transpired since it took effect June 22.
“The government has put all necessary measures in place and is running a 24-hour center to deal with any incidents related to the program,” Ma said. “We strongly believe the initiative will create more positive, deeper interactions between the people of Taiwan and mainland China.”
Brokered by the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation and its Beijing counterpart the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, the agreement allows up to 500 mainland Chinese to enter Taiwan per diem for 15-day maximum sojourns.
