China Taiwan Province (ROC): News, Discussions & Images

[AndrewJin]

Wonderful. May the opposite be true as well (mainland to Taiwan). And may your beautiful country reunite in the coming decades. We need unification, not separation.

Thank you!

 

[TaiShang]

Welcome home!!!

A passenger ship arrives at the Wutong dock in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 1, 2015. Taiwan residents have been permitted to enter the Chinese mainland only with MTP and no longer have to apply for endorsement as of July 1, according to a new regulation on Chinese people's travel between Taiwan and the mainland. Photo: Xinhua

Taiwan residents register for the Mainland Travel Permit of Taiwan Residents (MTP) at the exit-entry administration hall of the Wutong dock in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 1, 2015. Taiwan residents have been permitted to enter the Chinese mainland only with MTP and no longer have to apply for endorsement as of July 1, according to a new regulation on Chinese people's travel between Taiwan and the mainland. Photo: Xinhua

Passengers arrive at the Wutong dock in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 1, 2015. Taiwan residents have been permitted to enter the Chinese mainland only with MTP and no longer have to apply for endorsement as of July 1, according to a new regulation on Chinese people's travel between Taiwan and the mainland. Photo: Xinhua

 

[TaiShang]

'Free landing' of Taiwan residents on the mainland begins
2015-07-02 15:16

A traveller from Taiwan holds his travel pass at an airport in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, June 30, 2015. [Photo/IC]


BEIJING - Lu Yee-yen arrived at Xiamen City on the mainland on board the New Golden Dragon on Wednesday morning, thirty minutes after leaving Kinmen County, Taiwan.

She got off the ship and had entered the mainland in a minute, without producing any entry permit.

"So convenient, really great," She said, showing her travel pass booklet with a number of entry stamps. The unstamped pages of the booklet will remain blank forever.

July 1 is the first day that Taiwan residents can visit the mainland without an entry permit.

Revised entry regulations announced last month mean Taiwan residents no longer have to apply for a visa-like entry permit for every visit. It generally took a week to 10 days to obtain an entry permit valid for two years at a cost of 170 yuan ($28) each time.

The new policy surprised Wang Tsou-yao who had spent several hundred yuan and 10 days waiting for a travel agency to secure his entry permit.

"I have many relatives in Fuzhou, and I can visit them often in the future," said Wang.

Cross-Straits travel resumed in the late 1980s and has increased rapidly since 2008 when the two sides opened direct mail, transport and trade links and eased restriction on tourism.

In 2014, Taiwan residents made 5.37 million visits to the mainland, up from 4.36 million in 2008. Mainland residents made 4.04 million visits to Taiwan last year, compared with 280,000 in 2008.

Lin Dai-sian who has lived in Shanghai for seven years will save money and much time preparing various documents including her employment contract and residential permit. She goes back to Taiwan to see her parents twice a year. Now, she can easily bring her parents to Shanghai.

"The new policy shows our care for Taiwan people and is a sincere attempt to serve and help them," mainland spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said earlier at a press conference.

 

[AndrewJin]

In 2014, Taiwan residents made 5.37 million visits to the mainland, up from 4.36 million in 2008. Mainland residents made 4.04 million visits to Taiwan last year, compared with 280,000 in 2008.

Wow, I didn't expect so many compatriots from Taiwan visit mainland annually.

 

[LowPost]

Yet another sign that the détente in the cross-strait relations is being cemented steadily.

 

[ahojunk]

Wow, I didn't expect so many compatriots from Taiwan visit mainland annually.

At this rate of people to people exchange, Taiwan is already like a province of China.

@AndrewJin
Do you think there should be an undersea HSR from Xiamen to Taiwan via Kinmen and Penghu?
Is this line technically possible and economically feasible?

 

[TaiShang]

At this rate of people to people exchange, Taiwan is already like a province of China.

That's the point, actually. It is very hard for "foreign" China experts to understand really the deep underlying social, cultural, economic currents between the Mainland and Taiwan. I have been arguing for this and, in fact, most of academic community is in agreement with this: The unification of Taiwan with the Mainland will be through a more organic process than Mainland-Hong Kong. So organic that it is hard to notice if looked outside the larger historical context.

people here are happy about the new rule because so many used to be discouraged from travelling to the Mainland due to paperwork and waiting.

 

[AndrewJin]

@AndrewJin
Do you think there should be an undersea HSR from Xiamen to Taiwan via Kinmen and Penghu?
Is this line technically possible and economically feasible?

technically, no project is impossible in China.
Economically, just look at how many people travel across the strait!

 

[TaiShang]

technically, no project is impossible in China.
Economically, just look at how many people travel across the strait!
View attachment 235345

I would say the only obstacle would be political disagreement.

Otherwise, indeed, it is not undoable for China.

 

[cirr]

At this rate of people to people exchange, Taiwan is already like a province of China.

@AndrewJin
Do you think there should be an undersea HSR from Xiamen to Taiwan via Kinmen and Penghu?
Is this line technically possible and economically feasible?

Fuzhou-Pingtan（already under construction。Pingtan，the Mainland county closet to Taiwan，consists of 126 islands of which the main one is China's 5th largest）-Taipei HSR

 

[TaiShang]

Thank you !

Mainland Delivers Medical Assistance for Taiwan Blaze Victims
2015-07-08

The first batch of medical relief materials, to treat the victims of the Taiwan water park blaze, leaves from Beijing to Taiwan in the night of 7th July. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

The first batch of medical relief materials, provided by the Chinese mainland to treat the victims of the Taiwan water park blaze, has arrived in the island.

The supplies include nearly 1,300 boxes of dressings urgently needed by hospitals.

Several other consignments will follow.

So far three victims of the tragedy have died and 230 remain in critical condition.

 

[Kyle Sun]

Thank you !

Mainland Delivers Medical Assistance for Taiwan Blaze Victims
2015-07-08

The first batch of medical relief materials, to treat the victims of the Taiwan water park blaze, leaves from Beijing to Taiwan in the night of 7th July. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

The first batch of medical relief materials, provided by the Chinese mainland to treat the victims of the Taiwan water park blaze, has arrived in the island.

The supplies include nearly 1,300 boxes of dressings urgently needed by hospitals.

Several other consignments will follow.

So far three victims of the tragedy have died and 230 remain in critical condition.

Hope those people can recover soon.

 

[TaiShang]

S. China Sea brings Taiwan, mainland closer
By Wang Jianmin 2015-7-15 0:13:01

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou has made a series of strong statements about the South China Sea disputes in recent months, a high-profile move rarely seen since the early 2000s.

On May 26, Ma launched a South China Sea Peace Initiative, calling on all claimants to shelve disagreements and jointly exploit resources in the region. One month later during an inspection of Taiwan's "Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he backed the Chinese mainland's reclamation works on some South China Sea islets and reefs, saying they won't jeopardize freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Last week, in a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ma said that China resumed its sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea according to relevant international legal documents including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. Taiwan would "staunchly defend" the Taiping Island and its legitimate rights in the South China Sea, Ma added.

Ma's intensive announcements to reinforce Taiwan's position in the South China Sea disputes are a response to the recent strong interventions into the region by the US.

Washington maintained a close relationship with Taiwan, a quasi-alliance through the US-Taiwan Relations Act. Washington is eager to talk Taiwan out of insisting on the "eleven-dash line," known as the nine-dash line in the mainland, and claiming sovereignty over the South China Sea. If Washington succeeded, it would be an enormous setback for the mainland to stick to its legitimate claim to the South China Sea on a historical basis.

But from Ma's recent remarks, the Taiwan administration remains firm on this essential issue. Ma knows that the South China Sea is of vital importance to both Taiwan and the mainland.

It is unavoidable that the Ma administration has to strike a balance between the US and the mainland, but it won't give up the South China Sea as a cost of winning favor from the US.

Ma's recent article that was published in the Wall Street Journal in June calls for restraint, peaceful talks, and respect for international law in the South China Sea, which echoes many aspects of US stance over the South China Sea disputes.

This could be regarded as Ma's tactful catering to Washington, a move signifying his prudence when facing both the mainland and the US.

It is time that authorities of both the mainland and Taiwan should engage in talks about cooperation over the South China Sea disputes.

The proposal has been debated and advocated for quite a few years in the mainland and Taiwan. But no real actions have been taken by the authorities on either side.

A breakthrough on these terms is more needed than before. It could serve as an important step to build strategic, military and political trust between the mainland and Taiwan.

 

[TaiShang]

Taiwan to receive fresh water from the Chinese mainland
July 21, 2015

The signing ceremony for the historic water supply project from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan's Kinmen County is held on July 20, 2015 in Taiwan's Kinmen county. [Photo: Chinanews.com]



The Chinese mainland has entered into a landmark water supply project with Taiwan on July 20, to provide fresh water to the Kinmen county that has been suffering from water shortages, according to a report from China News.

The mainland will provide fresh water to local residents through an undersea tunnel from the mainland's Quanzhou city in Fujian Province.

Institutions involved in this water supply project from the Chinese mainland and Kinmen county have held eight meetings before the signing ceremony to finalize details on the construction, management, price and water quality monitoring of the project.

The two sides managed to reach an agreement after 20 years' of negotiations between the Chinese mainland and Kinmen county authorities.

Su Shulin, governor of Fujian Province says the water supply project will meet the demand of Kinmen's local people.

He notes that the project will strengthen the cross-straits relationship and enhance cooperation between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.

 

[Kyle Sun]

the water price is so so so.so so low.

less than 2rmb/t , even cheaper than.mainland water price.

It is not.fair for mainland citizen。