On Jan. 14, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan announced Kinmen and Matsu islands could be the first Taiwanese destinations to host individual visitors from the other side of the strait. The minister sees Taiwan’s outlying territories as ideal test beds for this ROC government tourism initiative, which she hopes will be rolled out on Taiwan proper in the first half of this year.
Lai’s idea of greenlighting solo mainland Chinese visits to Kinmen and Matsu is a sound one. Located just off the coast of mainland China, both islands are part of the mini three links and accustomed to handling large numbers of visitors. Any teething problems with the program can be quickly identified and rectified with minimal impact on the majority of Taiwan’s population.
ROC Premier Wu Den-yih also sees merit in Lai’s proposal. On Jan. 18 he said Taiwan must be fully prepared before opening up to individual mainland Chinese tourists. This involves assessing the country’s public infrastructure to determine whether it can handle additional demand and if necessary, implementing a program of works to enhance facilities and service.
Wu also raised a salient point when he said particular attention must be paid to ensuring that national security is not compromised. The ROC is still technically at war with the mainland Chinese communists and must not make the mistake of dropping its guard. Despite the saccharine-sweet talk of warming cross-strait ties and mutual trust emanating from the Presidential Office, Beijing has a long memory and will seize every opportunity to finish the job it failed to do in 1949.
Since Taiwan further opened to mainland Chinese tourism in July 2008, there have been several cases of suspected spying. One bizarre incident took place in May 2009 when a “visitor” left his group at Taipei 101 and somehow found himself wandering around the ROC Armed Forces Recruitment Center. After gaining entry to the restricted access computer warfare command area through a backdoor, he began taking photographs before finally being arrested by security personnel.
A potentially more serious problem is “vanishing” mainland Chinese tourists. Wu said that at present around 1.5 out of every 100,000 visitors fail to depart Taiwan at the end of their trips. Although this figure is low, the premier is bang on the money in describing it as in need of improvement. This is certainly the case if one-tenth of the daily quota of 4,000 mainland Chinese tourists is granted entry to the country under the MAC’s plan, which is subject to ongoing negotiations between Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation and Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
If the government is to minimize the threat of undesirable mainland Chinese elements taking advantage of its tourism largesse, then the process of fine-tuning its visa-issuing process is critical. Kinmen and Matsu are good places to let such visitors move about freely, but the real question is how can restrictions be eased so that the right type of travelers from across the strait are enticed to Taiwan proper?
International tourism research shows that affluent mainland Chinese tourists are educated professionals and semi-professionals within the middle class demographic who typically reside in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou—cities with high levels of average income and consumer spending. There is no question that Taiwan should be targeting this group but to date, it seems the government has not put a great deal of thought into how it should go about doing this.
Based on comments made by all the usual suspects in the Ma Ying-jeou administration, there is a feeling of cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement deja vu when it comes to this issue. The focus is on glittering benefits without serious consideration of the substantial risks involved. Reports that pre-arrival cash security deposits are being considered as a way of ensuring mainland Chinese tourists do not abscond while in Taiwan inspire little confidence that the government is on the right track.
To make matters worse, there is a dearth of studies by impartial organizations assessing the impact and value of this initiative. At a time when Taiwan is battling unemployment and struggling to keep its healthcare system solvent, every precaution must be taken to avoid inadvertently triggering a rash of illegal immigration that could compound these problems.
In theory, the ROC government’s push to lift restrictions on individual visits by mainland Chinese tourists is a solid one. According to the Beijing-based China National Tourism Association, by 2015 mainland China will be the No. 1 tourism source market worldwide. By opening up Taiwan to these travelers, the country can compete on an equal footing with major tourism industry players such as Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S.
But this pot of gold at the end of the tourism rainbow must not be pursued with a devil-may-care-attitude that risks destabilizing the country and eroding Taiwan’s sovereignty. Rome was not built in a day and the ROC government would do well to remember this maxim as it sets about promoting Taiwan as an attractive destination for profitable mainland Chinese travel.
—Tito Bacchus is a freelance writer based in Montreal, Canada. These views are the author’s and not necessarily those of Taiwan Today. Copyright © 2011 by Tito Bacchus