Taiwan puts a stop to resumption of group tours to China after Bejing alters flight path
Hong Kong Free Press
Taiwan ordered on Wednesday travel agencies to stop organising group tours to China following Beijing’s adjustment of an aviation route that drew ire on the self-ruled island.
Local authorities banned tourist groups from visiting China in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the restrictions set to be lifted after the Lunar New Year holiday this month.
However, Taiwan’s Tourism Administration instructed travel operators to stop arranging group visits from Wednesday as “the current situation is not conducive for the people to go to mainland China”.
It cited Beijing’s “unilateral” decision to adjust the M503 route through the Taiwan Strait which “would impact aviation safety” as one of the reasons behind its decision.
The administration also blamed China for failing to make arrangements for its tourist groups to come to Taiwan, following a Beijing ban in 2019 on individual tourists travelling to the island.
“Considering the changing situation and public travel safety, we will not carry out the original plan” to resume Chinese group tours, Taiwan’s tourism body added in a statement.
It said the groups that had been organised before Wednesday’s announcement with departure dates between March 1 and May 31 were still allowed to travel as planned.
China, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, sparked condemnation on the island when Beijing announced changes last week to flights headed southwards along the M503 route starting from February 1.
China’s civil aviation authority said the change was aimed at improving efficiency in a congested area.
But Taipei warned that the move could affect stability in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, which separates the island and mainland China, as well as lead to an escalation in tensions.
Beijing has vowed to seize Taiwan, by force if necessary, and has ramped up pressure on the island, staging several rounds of major military drills in the strait in recent years.
Route M503 sparked an outcry in Taiwan when China launched it in 2015, given its proximity to the median line that runs through the waterway.
Its adjustment follows Taiwan’s election in January of the independence-leaning Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing had branded a “severe danger”.
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