China's Taiwan tour contract branded a political lever, not a path to normal tourism

Taipei [Taiwan], January 25 (ANI): Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has criticised China's newly issued standardised tourism contract for travel to Taiwan, saying it fails to resolve the core obstacles blocking the resumption of normal cross-strait tourism exchanges.
The contract, released by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and scheduled to take effect on March 31, instructs Chinese tourists to follow Taiwanese laws and customs and protect environmental and tourism resources while visiting.
It also bars travel agencies from using ultra-cheap tour packages to lure customers or from forcing travellers into shopping tours and extra fees, as reported by The Taipei Times.
According to The Taipei Times, although some have interpreted the move as a goodwill gesture from Beijing, MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chiang said the document avoids Taiwan's main demand negotiations on a stable and transparent framework for reopening tourism links.
"China is showing it is not entirely opposed to resuming tours, but it refuses to discuss how this should actually work," Liang said, comparing the situation to a game of table tennis where one side refuses to return the ball.
Liang noted that Beijing has revised similar contracts multiple times since 2014, most recently in 2024, yet the central problem remains: China retains the power to suspend tours unilaterally. He pointed to Japan's experience last year, when Beijing abruptly halted group travel despite existing agreements between tour operators.
Such unpredictability, Liang warned, could cause heavy losses for Taiwan's tourism sector, including hotels, transport providers and travel agencies. He added that tourism exchanges should be shielded from political interference, but recent actions by Beijing have made that increasingly difficult.
These include issuing new guidelines targeting alleged "Taiwan independence separatists" and blacklisting Taiwanese officials, as cited by The Taipei Times.
On travel figures, Liang said Beijing claimed about 5.44 million Taiwanese crossed between Taiwan and China last year, but this number was inflated by counting travellers who entered China via third countries such as Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and Southeast Asia.
He stated that Taiwan's priority is maintaining orderly exchanges rather than maximising visitor numbers. Liang also responded to China's criticism of the recently finalised Taiwan-US trade deal, which Chinese officials labelled an "indentured servitude contract."
He questioned why China, which provides massive overseas loans and aid, has not focused more on raising domestic incomes, as reported by The Taipei Times. (ANI)