Factotum

As newly elected Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou seeks to promote better ties with China, the doors have been opened for Chinese Tourists to fly direct to Taiwan from China, for the first time in almost 60 years. Some Taiwanese locals hope the influx of new tourists will bring money, helping the economy. The first plane-load of Chinese arrived on Friday the 4th of July and were treated to a 'red-carpet' welcome at Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport. The tourists were given a tour of the Presidential Office and some members of the group were quoted as "yearning for democracy". A very shrewd move by the KMT to rub the noses of those Chinese into the kind of freedoms they could have been living under had Chairman Mao and the communists lost the civil war?  

So, how about the tourists going the opposite direction - the Taiwanese taking advantage of the newly opened direct flights to China? Well, searching the internet has brought not a single article to my attention about those ones. Help anyone??? Are the first Taiwanese tourists heading to Beijing getting the same warm welcome? I'd certainly like to hope so!

Tourists are good for economies. Look at the value of the British Queen for an example of that; the hordes of American and Japanese tourists outside Buckingham Palace, spending their Dollars and Yen on crappy tourist 'schtick' in London proves that point. But how rich are the Chinese tourists? What will they spend their money on? How will their arrival increase the wages and improve the life of Jonny Wong working in 7-11? Some Taiwanese people are concerned about the Chinese peoples tendency for cheap spending habits, as well as their "rude" behaviour (queue jumping, lack of manners and spitting everywhere, to name a few). And finally, with Chinese tourists having a habit of "disappearing" once they arrive in Taiwan, is it really such a good idea to increase the number? Maybe it won't be difficult to find these "missing" tourists in the future - just look outside your window and you'll probably see 10 or 20 of them, because with tourism on the increase it is only a logical progression that "missing" tourists will increase too.  

Of course, dialogue between peoples or nations is a good thing. Problems don't get solved by not talking, by not communicating. But how much does Beijing really want to listen? I'd guess that Beijing likes to do all the talking and wants Taipei to do all the listening: an attitude practised by the KMT of old, when talking to the people of Taiwan.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7488965.stm

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/07/09/2003416943

http://www.cnanews.gov.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200806290012&pt=3&LArr=200806290021,200806290020,200806290019,200806290012