Taiwan Today

The first step toward establishing permanent offices across the Taiwan Strait will be taken after Taiwan and mainland China establish tourism offices in each other’s capitals, according to sources familiar with the matter. It is believed that the Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism and Travel Association and Beijing’s Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association will oversee the offices’ respective operations, which are scheduled to open by the end of this year. During talks between Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait in Beijing last June, the two sides agreed to exchange representative offices. If realized, the move augurs well for the future of cross-strait relations. Lai Seh-jen, director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, was reported as discussing the matter in a meeting with the mainland’s State Council of Taiwan Affairs Office and China National Tourism Administration during her July visit to Beijing. “The new offices will focus on promoting cross-strait tourism, assisting tourists and resolving emergency situations,” the Tourism Bureau said. In a sign of the move’s significance, the Mainland Affairs Council said the person heading up Taiwan’s office should be chosen carefully given the highly sensitive nature of such an organization. The government is said to be considering a number of possible choices for the job, but is yet to reach a decision. Beijing, however, has tapped Fan Guishan, deputy-director of the Department of Tourism Promotion and International Liaison under the CNTA and deputy secretary-general of the CSTEA, to lead its Taipei tourism office. Sources believe that the mainland’s office will be located on Dunhua South Road in central Taipei’s Da-an District and could employ up to 10 people. (CYH-JSM)