China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Mainland travel made easy
Taiwan resident Xu Huayang hasn’t stopped smiling since learning that he soon will not need an entry permit for the Chinese mainland.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, announced in a notification on June 18 that entry-permit requirements for Taiwan residents visiting the mainland would be removed from July 1. The revised rule will enable Taiwan residents to enter and exit the mainland by producing a travel pass without having to apply for a visa-like document on every visit.
Xu, a Peking University master’s student, has lived in Beijing for the past four years. Like other Taiwan residents, he needs an entry permit to come into the mainland, a rule that’s been around since 1992. For Taiwan residents on the mainland, such permits are renewed with a frequency ranging from three months to five years, depending on the nature of a person’s stay.
Xu describes the renewal process as inconvenient, consuming his time and money.
He needs to go around his university collecting study and accommodation certificates from different departments before filing an application for the current permit at the city’s Public Security Bureau, he says.
The permit usually takes a week to be obtained, limiting his travel options elsewhere in the country during the waiting period.
“The permit is like an ID for us on the mainland. Without it, I have trouble buying air tickets or staying at hotels,” Xu tells China Daily.
According to the revised policy, the requirements for documents from Taiwan residents for a mainland travel pass will also be eased. The current regulation requires proof of the purpose of a visit, especially for those who come for academic, business, cultural or educational events. All such documents will become unnecessary from July, according to the State Council notice.
The general practice for the new pass would be to go through travel agents, says Lin Wei, an official with Taiwan Straits Tourism Association’s Beijing office.
China’s Ministry of Public Security has also said that electronic travel passes may be issued to Taiwan residents sometime this year. The e-passes will make it convenient for Taiwan residents to clear mainland customs, officials with the ministry say.
At the moment, the permit looks like a passport booklet.
More than 200 million yuan ($32.3 million) will be saved annually, thanks to the entry permitfree policy, Taiwan media reported following the State Council announcement.
Approximately 5.37 million people from Taiwan visited the mainland in 2014, up 3.9 percent compared with the previous year, according to Beijing-based China Tourism Academy. Multi-entry permits cost 100 yuan and each Taiwan resident had to apply in person with the mainland’s entryexit department. A one-time permit costs 20 yuan.
Experts say the number of travelers from Taiwan is expected to rise when the new regulation comes into effect.
“The policy will give incentive to visitors from Taiwan,” says Jiang Yiyi, director of International Tourism Development Institute, an affiliate of China Tourism Academy.
Things have been greatly improved for Taiwan people to visit the mainland over the years, and the new policy will clear away the last few inconveniences, according to Jiang.
“It will definitely produce a positive effect on travel, work and education for Taiwan residents in the mainland,” she says.
Other than saving time and money, the move is expected to encourage multiple visits by individual travelers and increase business exchanges, says Zhang Youyin, a researcher with the tourism academy’s Regional Tourism Planning and Development Institute.
Taiwan resident Chien Sean is thrilled about the policy. Sean visits the mainland three times a year on business.
“The removal of the permit will not only save costs for people like me but also make things easier for us to travel back and forth across the Straits,” he says.
Cross-Straits exchanges have seen positive progress over the years.
The number of mainland cities whose residents can travel to Taiwan as individual travelers has been on the rise since 2011. In addition, Taiwan this year will extend the validity of a mainland traveler’s permit to 10 years from five, according to the State Council notice.
In 1949, communication between the mainland and Taiwan broke down but travel resumed in the late 1980s. Since 2008, both sides have eased up several restrictions governing transport and tourism sectors.