April 30, 2024 (EIRNS)—In the aftermath of Kuomintang (KMT) leader Ma Ying-jeou’s visit to the Chinese mainland, Beijing has announced measures to ease tourism between the mainland and Taiwan. The Ministry of Transportation wants to normalize maritime passenger travel across the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration is to work for more flights between Taiwan and the 30 largest cities on the mainland. And the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is promoting group tourism to Matsu, an island administered by Taipei. Beijing says that if Taipei will allow it, they’d like to reinstate passenger ferry service between Pingtan on the mainland and Taiwan.
Zichen Wang has published partial English translations of the announcements:
The Ministry of Transportation: “On April 28th, the Cross-Strait Shipping Exchange Association has already used existing channels to urge the Taiwanese authorities to resume direct cross-strait maritime passenger transportation. Cross-strait maritime passenger routes are crucial channels for people-to-people exchanges between the two sides, and the full normalization of direct cross-strait maritime passenger transportation is beneficial for normal interactions between compatriots on both sides of the strait.”
The Civil Aviation Administration: “On April 28th, the Cross-Strait Aviation Transportation Exchange Committee, through designated contacts, once again sent a letter to the Taiwanese authorities urging for the prompt and comprehensive resumption of direct passenger flights across the strait. From last year to the present, both the number of flights and passenger volume on cross-strait routes have shown a continuous growth trend. Both people on both sides of the strait and airlines hope to expand cross-strait routes and destinations, increase flights, and facilitate travel.”
