Taiwan and the mainland will exchange quasi-official offices this week, the first in 60 years, officials said.
Taiwan’s Taiwan Strait Tourism Association will open its Beijing office May 4, while the mainland’s Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association is scheduled to launch operations in Taipei May 7.
Sources familiar with the matter said although the TSTA and CSTEA are both nongovernmental organizations, the staff members stationed in both offices are civil servants authorized by Taipei and Beijing, making the exchange of offices a milestone in cross-strait relations.
Janice Seh-jen Lai, director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, will preside at the opening ceremony in Beijing, with the mainland’s China National Tourism Administration Director Shao Qiwei and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Vice Chairman Zheng Lizhong also expected to be present.
Shao, in turn, will host the opening ceremony for CSTEA’s office in Taipei May 7, with Lai and Straits Exchange Foundation Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian in attendance.
Among the officials accompanying Lai to Beijing, one consultant is a supervisor from the National Immigration Agency. Sources predict that the delegation may negotiate with Beijing on expediting the issuance of entry permits, given the increasing number of mainland Chinese travelers to Taiwan.
The TSTA has appointed 10 employees to its Beijing office, headed by Yang Ruey-tzhong. (KL-THN)