VZCZCXRO0456
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #1348/01 2550909
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110909Z SEP 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9928
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8591
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 2238
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2833
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 6791
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 1418
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0040
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0204

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 001348 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AIT/W, EAP/TC, INR/EAP 
 
FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIS PHSA PGOV CH TW
SUBJECT: KAOHSIUNG TRAVEL AGENTS CONTEND CHINA EXERTING CONTROL OVER 
CROSS-STRAIT TOURISM 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
REF:  Taipei 1244 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Before the inauguration of weekend direct flights 
on July 4, there was a steady flow of Mainland tour groups traveling 
to Taiwan via a stop-over in a third-country.  However, Kaohsiung 
travel agents reported to AIT/K that in negotiations with Mainland 
China to establish weekend direct flights, Taiwan authorities 
quietly agreed to disallow travel to Taiwan via a third-country for 
Mainland tourists and forced all Mainland tour groups to travel via 
direct flights.  As of July 18, the travel agents contended that 
they were not allowed to bring Mainland tour groups via the 
third-country route by Taiwan authorities and since July 18, 
Mainland tourism in Kaohsiung has all but dried up.  They maintained 
that China is now able to control which of its citizens can enter 
Taiwan and which travel agencies in China and Taiwan are allowed to 
participate in cross-Strait tourism.  According to them, China has 
excluded Kaohsiung travel agencies from participating in 
cross-Strait tourism and pressured travel agents to ensure Mainland 
tourists spend little time in Kaohsiung, whose Mayor is part of the 
pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  However, the 
Taipei Travel Agents Association Chair told AIT that Mainland 
tourist numbers were relatively low island-wide, not just in 
Kaohsiung.  While the PRC should do more to facilitate Mainland 
tourist travel to Taiwan, he explained, Taiwan also needed to market 
the island's tourist attractions more effectively.  End summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
End of Third-Country Flights 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Before the inauguration of weekend direct flights, tourists 
from the Mainland visited Taiwan by transiting through a "third 
country" (usually Hong Kong or Macau) on their way to Taiwan. 
Kaohsiung travel agents arranged tour packages and tour guides to 
take them around Kaohsiung and Taiwan.  It was rumored among travel 
agents in Kaohsiung that in negotiating the agreement to allow 
weekend direct flights, Taiwan agreed to disallow tour groups to 
travel to Taiwan via a stop-over in a third country.  Taiwan travel 
agencies reported to AIT/K that they were told by Taiwan authorities 
to stop arranging travel for tour groups via a third-country 
stop-over by July 18, which according to them, has effectively 
forced all Mainland tour groups to travel via the direct 
cross-Strait flights. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
China Controls Who and How Many Visit Taiwan 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) According to the Kaohsiung travel agents, tour groups that 
come via cross-Strait direct flights have to show Taiwan immigration 
officials a permit issued by their local government back home 
allowing them to travel to Taiwan.  This gives the Mainland 
government the ability to select which of its citizens can travel to 
Taiwan.  (Note: AIT/K confirmed with Kaohsiung Airport Immigration 
officials that permits issued by the Chinese government are required 
for entry into Taiwan.) 
¶4. (SBU) While many KMT politicians blame the low number of tourists 
traveling to Kaohsiung on its inability to sell itself as a tourist 
destination, Kaohsiung travel agents refute that argument by 
pointing out that the number of Mainland tourists that came to 
Kaohsiung was higher before the era of weekend direct flights. 
Kaohsiung travel agents that spoke with AIT/K insisted that the 
Chinese government uses its power to deny or delay the issuance of 
permits to regulate how many visitors can travel to Taiwan and that 
they are purposely keeping the numbers low.  They believe the 
Chinese government only agreed to the weekend direct flights so 
quickly in order to give face to President Ma but still wanted to be 
able tightly manage this new development in cross-Strait tourism. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Selecting Pro-China Travel Agencies in Taiwan 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) China's control over cross-Strait tourism extends well 
beyond regulating the numbers of visitors able to travel to Taiwan, 
Kaohsiung travel agents asserted.  They explained to AIT/K that the 
Chinese government has so far only approved 33 Mainland travel 
agencies to work with Taiwan travel agencies to arrange trips for 
tour groups.  Many Taiwan travel agencies have applied with these 
 
TAIPEI 00001348  002 OF 003 
 
 
Chinese travel agencies to bring over Mainland tour groups. 
However, most applications have been denied.  So far, only 
applications from 21 Taiwan travel agencies have been approved. 
Travel agents in Kaohsiung compiled a list of the 21 travel agencies 
that have been selected to participate in hosting Mainland tour 
groups.  They pointed out that every travel agency selected to 
receive tourists by China are based in Taipei.  Many of them also 
had known close connections to the KMT and Mainland officials.  As 
of yet, no travel agency outside of Taipei has been approved to 
receive cross-Strait tourists, a fact one local travel agent 
attributed to the Chinese Government's desire to limit dealings with 
businesses from independence-leaning areas. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Restricting Travel Destinations in Taiwan 
----------------------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU) Kaohsiung travel agents indicated that the Chinese 
government's anti-DPP bias extended even into the selection of 
destinations Mainland tourists could visit.  Other travel agents 
that have hosted Mainland tour groups told them that the Mainland 
government explicitly instructed the travel agents on which 
locations the tour groups could visit, which restaurants they should 
frequent, and which hotels they should use.  As a result, tour 
groups typically spent only a day in the DPP-controlled city of 
Kaohsiung and rarely stayed the night, despite the fact that 
Southern Taiwan's best hotels are located in Kaohsiung.  They 
claimed that Mainland tour groups used to spend more time in 
Kaohsiung back when they were free of Mainland government 
interference. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Response from Travel Agents in Kaohsiung 
---------------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) These seemingly politically motivated restrictions have 
proved devastating for travel agencies in Kaohsiung.  Many travel 
agencies said that they once solely depended on Mainland tourism, 
but now have to seek other sources of income while still attempting 
to win the approval of the Chinese authorities to participate in 
cross-Strait tourism.  Few travel agents are publicly complaining 
for fear that they would be black-listed by the Chinese government 
and would lose any chance of attracting cross-Strait tourists in the 
future. 
¶8. (SBU) Some travel agents have begun to file complaints with the 
Taiwan Tourism Bureau, but they do so anonymously, faxing the papers 
from local 7-11 stores in order to avoid being identified.  At the 
request of many travel agencies, a letter was sent in mid-July from 
Lai She-jen, President of the Across the Taiwan Strait Tourism 
Association, to China's Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association 
President Shao Qiwei.  In the letter, Lai questioned China's 
apparent restriction of only dealing with travel agencies with 
political connections to the Chinese government.  A response to the 
letter has not been received thus far. 
¶9. (SBU) On August 5, local travel agencies met with a Taiwan 
Tourism Bureau official in Kaohsiung to voice their complaints about 
the lack of Mainland visitors in Southern Taiwan and the lack of 
equal and fair participation for travel agencies outside of Taipei. 
Travel agents in attendance told AIT/K that little progress was made 
since the Bureau's representative was only a mid-level official. 
Ultimately, the group decided to monitor the situation until early 
September.  If no progress has been made by that time, then they 
will go to Taipei to hold a demonstration. 
 
--------------------------- 
Rebutting Conspiracy Theory 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) According to Taipei Association of Travel Agents (TATA) 
chairman Yao Ta Kuang, however, facilitating increased numbers of 
Mainland tourist visits is still a work in progress.  In his view, 
the number of PRC tourist arrivals in Taiwan will gradually increase 
from two or three hundred per day to five hundred per day in the 
near future, and it is simply not realistic to expect the upper 
limit of 3,000 per day to be achieved immediately.  Yao believes 
that Taiwan travel agents should increase their promotional efforts 
to attract additional Mainland tourists and does not believe that a 
perceived a dearth of PRC visitors to Kaohsiung is linked to the 
fact that the city's mayor is a DPP member.  According to Yao, 
Taiwan officials do not have a policy to disapprove Mainland 
tourists visiting Taiwan via third areas, including Hong Kong and 
 
TAIPEI 00001348  003 OF 003 
 
 
Macau, as long as they carry travel documentation accepted by 
Taiwan.  However, he continued, China has never approved travel by 
Mainland tourists to Taiwan via third areas. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
¶11. (SBU) We were surprised to hear that Kaohsiung travel agents 
perceived that the Mainland was discriminating against them and 
their city.  While this perception has not been reported in the 
media, it is widely known that the number of Mainland tourists 
visiting Taiwan has been disappointingly low (reftel).  Local 
authorities have called on the government to press the PRC to 
facilitate Mainland tourist traffic to Taiwan.  At the same time, 
they hope that Taiwan will increase spending on tourism promotion to 
stay competitive with most other economies in the region, which 
devote more resources to tourism.  It is not clear how Kaohsiung 
Mayor Chen plans to address the paucity of Mainland tourists to her 
city.  Given low Mainland tourist numbers and only one direct 
cross-strait flight operating out of Kaohsiung, she has focused her 
tourist promotion efforts on Japan and South Korea.  She has been 
vocal in criticizing KMT authorities for not channeling more 
Mainland tourist traffic to southern Taiwan, a tack which she could 
use to bolster a likely re-election bid against a future KMT rival 
in 2010. 
 
Castro 
Young