Has Beijing’s Taiwan tourism strategy shifted?
The News Lens (Op-Ed)
Date: 2016/09/29
By: Edward White
China’s state news agency has used its official Twitter and Facebook accounts to advertise Penghu, a 
Xinhua says, “Feel pressure and tension? Let sunshine, beach and sea waves of the Penghu Bay to relax you [sic] in S.E. China’s Taiwan.” The message was reproduced in various languages across Xinhua’s different accounts.
The statement that Taiwan is – as the possessive implies – part of China will rile or amuse many in Taiwan. However, after months of speculation that the flow of visitors from across the Taiwan Strait is slowing because of cooler ties between Taipei and Beijing, can this advertisement be taken as sign that China is once again encouraging its citizens to visit Taiwan?
China is the single biggest source of tourists to Taiwan, and as academic Ian Rowen wrote recently, “…it may seem hard to remember that just a few years ago, government officials and scholars on both sides of the Strait were hailing the growth of cross-Strait tourism as a form of reconciliation or rapprochement.” [FULL STORY]