The Chinese mainland will keep talking with Taiwan on allowing
its tourists into the island, said the Taiwan Affairs Office of the
State Council here Tuesday.
The travel businesses of the two sides have reached basic mutual
understanding on key technical issues, said Dai Xiaofeng, a senior
official with the office.
They have held about six meetings since 2006 but tourists from
the mainland still can not go to Taiwan.
"We will keep pushing the negotiation forwards in 2008 with
greatest sincerity and utmost efforts," Dai said, "but tourists to
Taiwan from the mainland are not traveling between
'countries'."
The visitors from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland have topped 47
million people times since the two sides resumed personnel
exchanges in 1987.
"The number is twice the island's population, which is of
significance to cross-Straits exchanges," Dai said, "proving that
the actions to disturb and block the relations across the Taiwan
Straits can not stop the people from communicating with each
other."
In 2007, about 4.62 million people times of Taiwan people
visited the mainland, a year-on-year rise of 4.9 percent.
With an increasing number of people traveling across the
Straits, new problems and difficulties did occur but the mainland
has worked hard to help Taiwan people in education, health care and
business development, Dai said.
The mainland education authority announced in April last year
that it welcomed Taiwan universities to recruit students in the
mainland. It has also acknowledged the diploma granted by Taiwan
universities.
About 2,200 Taiwan students went to college in the mainland in
2007.
Last year, the mainland government also allowed Taiwan people to
apply for practice licenses of 15 more professional jobs, such as
physicians, architects and accountants.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)
