Beijing vows to ease curbs on trips to Taiwan
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-25 10:14

BEIJING - Mainland government pledged on Friday to ease curbs on tourists visiting Taiwan as part of efforts to win over the people of the Taiwan island.

Mainland has issued volleys of rhetoric against Taiwan "president" Chen Shui-bian this week over his plan to scrap a council advising on eventual unification with the mainland and said it was ready to deal with "any possible complicated situation."

But Beijing on Friday stopped short of saying the abolition of the 15-year-old National Unification Council and unification guidelines would mean war and instead repeated their previous offers of economic sweeteners.

Dai Xiaofeng, a senior official at the mainland's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, said Beijing would soon announce a set of specific regulations on managing trips by mainland residents to the island, a ban on which was removed last May.

"We hope Taiwan authorities can bow to public opinion and take a practical and positive attitude on the issue of opening up to mainland tourists," Dai told a news conference.

The mainland has taken a stick-and-carrot approach since 2005, when it hosted heads of Taiwan's three pro-unification opposition parties and offered the sweeteners that also include scrapping tariffs on Taiwan fruits imports and the gift of a pair of pandas.

But it also refused to deal with Chen's government of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party and passed an Anti-Secession Law last March mandating the use of "non-peaceful means" if Taiwan slips toward formal independence.

Li Weiyi, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, dodged questions on whether Chen's latest move, which many speculate could happen as early as next Tuesday, would evoke any "non-peaceful means" from China.

"Let's just see what his next step and his intention are," Li said.

Taiwan has cautiously welcomed the tourism offer, saying it could accommodate 1,000 mainland tourists a day and might allow them to stay for up to 10 days, which analysts say would boost hotel sales at best by 15 percent.

But no formal negotiations have taken place, despite the visit to the island by mainland's tourism minister Shao Qiwei last October.

While both mainland and Taiwan have restricted visits across the Strait and the latter bans direct air links on grounds, a small number of mainlanders are now able to travel to Taiwan, mostly on business. But the figure is marginal compared to the 4.1 million trips to the mainland last year by Taiwan people, who have invested billions of dollars in the mainland.