Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) The number of visits by Chinese people arriving in Taiwan as part of sightseeing tour groups had broken the 3 million mark as of Dec. 31 since the government opened the country's doors to Chinese group tours in May 2008, according to National Immigration Agency statistics released Wednesday.
Since restrictions were further relaxed to allow entry by individual Chinese travelers last April, nearly 30,000 Chinese people had applied for a permit from the agency to enter Taiwan as independent travelers as of Dec. 31, the tallies show.
Immigration officials said the number of individual visitors from China jumped higher last month, thanks to the launch of an online visa application service. In December alone, 16,000 Chinese people submitted visa applications for entry to Taiwan as independent travelers, the officials said.
Taiwan began in 1988 to allow Chinese people to visit the country, mainly to allow them to reunite with sick relatives or to attend family funerals. Prior to that, no Chinese people were allowed to set foot on Taiwan due to the hostile standoff between the two sides.
Interaction between Taiwan and China did not begin to warm up until the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou assumed office as president in May 2008.
Between Nov. 9, 1988 and Nov. 30, 2011, more than 6.3 million Chinese people visited Taiwan for various purposes, including business and sightseeing. Over 1.97 million of the visits were made before April 30, 2008, according to the immigration agency. (By Liu Chien-pang and Elizabeth Hsu) ENDITEM/J
