The first group of 273 solo tourists from mainland China arrived in Taiwan June 28 under the ROC government’s newly implemented free independent traveler program.
During the initial phase of the program, a maximum number of 500 mainland Chinese tourists per day will be allowed. If each tourist stays for the maximum-allotted 15 days, 7,500 solo mainland Chinese visitors will be in Taiwan on any given day.
The arrival of these guests has been seen as a golden opportunity to make money. Indeed, judging from the example of Hong Kong, which last year received NT$750 billion (US$25.9 billion) in revenues from independent mainland tourists, Taiwan’s tourism market can expect to receive an enormous boost.
But the program will provide far more than monetary benefits. By encouraging direct contacts between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese citizens, it will contribute significantly to the likelihood of a genuine cross-strait peace.
Mainland Chinese visitors do not come to Taiwan because of its beautiful scenery and well-developed modern cities, both of which are available aplenty in mainland China.
They come because of the historical and cultural ties between the two sides. As they search for a viable path for the future, they also want to see what they can learn from Taiwan.
Most solo visitors from mainland China are ordinary citizens. As they roam the streets of Taiwan free of all interference by governments of both sides, they can interact with ordinary Taiwanese on a person-to-person level. Their visits to Taiwan might be the freest days of their lives.
And this points to the critical difference between Taiwan and mainland China. The main asset that Taiwan has, and that mainland China lacks, is something that has never been found before in 5,000 years of Chinese history: freedom and democracy.
Thus during their stay in Taiwan many tourists from mainland China cannot get enough of local news talk shows, where politicians from both parties are mercilessly criticized—they have simply never experienced anything like it back home.
At the same time, however, many mainland Chinese visitors are also said to have the ingrained belief that Taiwan’s freewheeling style of democracy could never work in the mainland.
If Taiwan truly wants to leave its visitors with a powerful impression, it should try to disabuse them of this belief. It should try to persuade its visitors that Taiwan’s democratic system of government can in fact be transplanted across the Taiwan Strait.
Thus as Taiwan prepares to receive its new mainland Chinese visitors, it should be guided by the conviction that the most precious item the cross-strait visitors can take home is not gifts or merchandise, but an understanding of freedom and democracy.
If mainland Chinese visitors come to respect and treasure Taiwan’s democratic system of government, the prospects for peace between the two sides will increase—and that is worth far more than any commercial gain. (HZW)
(This commentary originally appeared in the United Daily News June 28.)
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