China's expanded travel access for Taiwan may have limited appeal

Beijing has stepped up its outreach to Taiwan with the expansion of a "visa-on-arrival" policy, eyeing a window of opportunity to improve frosty cross-strait ties as a new leader of the China-friendly opposition Kuomintang (KMT) takes office.

- Lim Min Zhang China Correspondent Yip Wai Yee Taiwan Correspondent

Tourists at the Temple of Heaven, or Tiantan Park, in Beijing. According to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their movements restricted on the mainland, have surged in recent months.

(PHOTO: REUTERS)

Yet Beijing's overtures are likely to have only limited appeal in Taiwan, amid concerns that the personal safety of its residents may be compromised when travelling to the mainland.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhang Han announced on Nov 5 that from Nov 20, Taiwan residents can stay for up to three months on "mainland travel permits" issued upon arrival at any of 100 ports in the mainland, up from 58 previously.

Ms Zhang told a press conference: "We... are committed to creating convenient conditions for Taiwan residents to travel to and from the mainland, so that compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can get closer and closer together."

Beijing has long held a "carrot and stick" approach towards Taiwan - simultaneously offering economic and tourism incentives while ramping up its military pressures. But in recent months, Beijing appears to be intensifying the softer aspects of its tactics towards the goal of "reunification" with the self-ruled island, which it claims as its own territory.

This comes after what Beijing sees as a potential turning point: the election of new KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun in October, when Chinese President Xi Jinping sent her a congratulatory letter expressing hopes that the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the KMT can "push forward national reunification".

Although the KMT is not in power, it is the biggest party in an opposition coalition that holds a majority in the legislature, which gives it significant power to influence policy and block the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) agenda.