Taiwan might open its doors to individual tourists from another seven to 10 Chinese cities, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (???) said on Wednesday.
The Free Independent Traveler (FIT) program, which commenced in June last year, allows up to 500 people from Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen to visit Taiwan per day without having to travel as part of a tour group.
Previous media reports have said the Chinese cities of Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Jinan might be added to the list.
Although the Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Beijing-based Cross-Strait Tourism Association are about to finalize negotiations, Lai said they have not decided whether to change the daily quota.
The number of FIT applicants has surged by 50 percent this year to 429 per day compared with 284 last year, according to the National Immigration Agency.
In other news, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said the eighth round of high-level cross-strait talks will likely take place in Taiwan in the first half of the year.
SEF Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian (???) said the next round of talks between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (???) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (???) would focus mainly on a long-stalled investment protection pact.
?We should be able to seal the agreement, as there are only minor differences left for the two sides to resolve,? Kao said.
Taipei is pushing for the investment pact because it wants to protect Taiwanese businesspeople in China, who can be vulnerable in disputes with local governments over land rights and compensation claims.
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