narrow Taiwan space

Taipei Times - archives: "The dwindling number of Chinese and other foreign tourists visiting Taiwan since the government opened up to Chinese passport holders last year is evidence that the “three links” policy has been ineffective, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

“When Taiwan first opened up to Chinese tourists in July last year, the initial figure was around 300 to 400 a day. At that time, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised that the numbers would pick up over the following months and reach 3,000 a day. Except for April and May, however, the average has only been 1,307 Chinese tourists a day,” DPP policy division deputy executive-secretary Liu Chien-hsin (劉建忻) said.

The DPP is expected next week to release an assessment report on the impact on tourism, air and sea routes, and agriculture since the opening of the “three links” — direct air and sea transportation, as well as mail services across the Taiwan Strait — in November last year."