Recently, mainland China has successively opened Fujian residents to travel to Matsu and Kinmen, but has not yet allowed mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan’s main island. Zhang Zheng, vice minister of the mainland’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that he hoped that mainland residents would travel to Taiwan’s main island at an early date. At the same time, he said that he hoped that the Taiwan authorities would proceed from the well-being of the Taiwan people and ensure the smooth progress of cross-strait tourism exchanges.
The Paper reported that the Information Office of the State Council held a series of press conferences on the theme of “Promoting High-quality Development” on 30th Sept, which were attended by officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Some Taiwan media asked, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s past statement, it will not be allowed for Fujian residents to travel to Taiwan’s main island group until the resumption of direct sea passenger flights from Pingtan to Taiwan, so they asked about the progress of this matter.
In his reply, Zhang Zheng said that it is understood that some mainland residents have now traveled to Matsu and Kinmen, and it is expected that there will be a wave of tourism peaks to Matsu and Kinmen during the “National Day” holiday in Chinese mainland.
Zhang Zheng expressed the hope that mainland residents will be able to travel to Taiwan’s main island at an early date. However, he did not forget to claim that he also hoped that the Taiwan authorities would truly proceed from the well-being of the people on both sides of the strait and ensure the smooth progress of cross-strait tourism exchanges.
Prior to this, Fujian had successively issued announcements on August 22 and September 27 to resume the application for travel endorsements for Fujian residents to Matsu and Kinmen, and land passengers could take the “mini three direct links” route to and fro.
According the recent press interview of Hsiao Po-Ren，the chairman of the Taiwan Travel Agent Associations of ROC Taiwan, said that the mainland’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced as early as April that as long as Pingtan resumes direct cross-strait maritime passenger flights, Fujian residents will be allowed to come to Taiwan, but he has applied for charter ships so far, and he is still stuck in the Taiwan’s MAC.
