TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday (August 1) slammed China’s recent military and economic pressure on Taiwan as attempts to influence the island nation’s presidential election scheduled for next January.
On Wednesday (July 31), Beijing announced that Chinese tourists from 47 cities would, starting in August, be prohibited from traveling to Taiwan on solo trips “due to current cross-strait relations.” Group travel remains an option for those who wish to visit Taiwan.
“Tourism ought not to be politicized," said Tsai, adding, “tourism that is politicized will not render stable development.” Using tourists as a political tool will only create negative sentiment in the heart of the Taiwanese, the president said at a press conference on Thursday morning.
It is the first time the Chinese government has imposed a ban on individual travel by Chinese citizens to the island since such trips were first permitted in 2011.
The Chinese authorities have made “a big strategic mistake," according to Tsai, as solo travel is the best way for Chinese young people to get to know about Taiwan and interact with the Taiwanese. The decision to ban solo tourists from coming to the island may be a threat to Taiwan, but it in fact hurts the young people of China who wish to travel freely there, Tsai stated.
In recent years, the government has taken measures to attract tourists from around the world in order to reduce the dependence of the country’s tourism industry on the Chinese, and the efforts have yielded some returns, Tsai said.
According to data from the Tourism Bureau, a record number of tourists traveled to Taiwan in 2018, with incoming travelers surpassing 110 million in a single year. Data also shows that despite the fact that tourism from China has been shrinking since 2014, travelers from other parts of the world continue to increase in number.
In anticipation that China would come up with measures to pressure Taiwan in the months leading up to the presidential election, Tsai said her administration had mulled over plans to reduce the impact brought about by the travel ban.
Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), minister of Transportation and Communications, said on Wednesday that the government will allocate a budget of NT$3.6 billion (US$114 million) to boost domestic tourism. Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it would ease travel restrictions on the relatives of Chinese spouses.
Tsai also criticized Beijing’s saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait this week by conducting military exercises in southwest of Taiwan. China’s military maneuvers are “not smart” and “irresponsible,” Tsai said, asserting that they have caused anxiety among countries in the region and created growing distrust toward Beijing in the international community.
The activities of the Chinese military are under constant surveillance, according to the president. She further stated that Taiwan’s armed forces are confident of their ability to defend the nation.
