From the TT
taipeitimes.com/News/editori … 2003416351
[quote]
Meanwhile, Xinhua news agency has reported that the Chinese military carried out its first parachuting exercise at Hebei Province’s Shijiazhuang Airport on June 18, in which eight civilian aircraft were involved.[/quote]
How many flights from China tomorrow?
Verses the Peace in our Time-Wu Poh-hsiung statement saying that if Taiwan kisses the China’s ass properly, we will be saved from missiles hurtling down on us
how many times do we have to say it?
Don’t trust the Chinese government to give anything in return for Taiwan, or to Taiwan, ever, for anything, no matter who or what you are or purportedly stand for, Mayor Ma or anybody.
M’kay?
Hurry get a first class ticket to Tokyo before the invasion occurs…
The Chinese tourists will have a positive impact on Taiwan’s economy, but I don’t think it’ll be nearly as big as people think it’s going to be. And why should it? The point is Taiwan has finally opened up for tourists from the mainland. Just be glad the DPP didn’t get re-elected or most likely there won’t be a single mainland tourist coming.
Where’s the love? TV news stations have these “Welcome Chinese tourists” banners on their screens -as if these guys had time to watch TV…
687 tourists only does not constitute the invasion that Ma promised
Say 1000 tourists per day = 365000 per year
Say they spend 30000NTD on the entire package flights included
That’s 1,095,000,000 lets say NTD 1 billion
Lucky for the tourists Ma was elected. If Frankie had been elected they would not have their chance to spend that money in Taiwan
cia.gov/library/publication … os/tw.html
[quote]
Strong trade performance in 2007 pushed Taiwan’s GDP growth rate above 5%, and unemployment is below 4% [/quote]
Chen’s fault again. Damn you A-bian!!!
indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=tw&v=67
Yes the tourist influx is not that important to stimulate the economy, as it was doing well anyway. Lets just hope that Ma can do as promised and improve(?) the terrible (?) economy, or do something/whatever he promised. That does not seem to important now, we got direct flights to China 
See the problem is not the economy, the problem is that the chosen few are getting more of the wealth and the others are being left behind. But you are right, the tourists won’t impact on this part of Taiwan’s economy/problem
And how about the increase in Taiwanese tourists that will go to China, now that they can have direct flights? With no restriction, this can easily pass the NT$1B that the Chinese will leave in Taiwan…
So, in the end, the ones winning are still the Chinese…
Seeing all those Chinese tourists touring around the place, I kinda miss Chen Shui-bian.
Isn’t CSB Chinese as well? He has a slip of paper with his mainland hometown of origin written on it. He keeps it in his pocket to remind him of his Chinese-ness. 
[quote=“ac_dropout”]You’d be surprised where the shortest distance between two points on a curved surface would take you.
However, HK is not on that point between Shanghai and Taoyuan. Which it the route I’d be most interested in.[/quote]
On a non-Euclidian model it’s an arc–I only knew that because it’s a punchline to my favorite joke.
Too bad the enthusiasm for the cross-strai flights did not extend to Eva and CAL stocks, both of which plunged.
taipeitimes.com/News/front/a … 2003416593
Of course, it could be blamed on the fact that Taiwan’s stock market is the WORST performer among developed markets in the region since Ma’s inaguration.
In the short term EVA and CAL stocks will fall but CAL and EVA are taking steps to utilize this newfound link with China and Chinese airlines. CAL is going to code share with the top 3 major Chinese airlines so that it can offer trips to China from the USA. And I would think EVA is thinking of doing the same.
Both airlines present heavy losses is reflected by the share price but things are looking up now I would say.
A lot of foreign companies may even station some high level employees in Taiwan even if their main focus is China now because of these flights. IF their wives and children would prefer to live in TAiwan while the breadwinner spends the week in China but the weekend in Taiwan?
A spanish citizen was interviewed while heading to Shanghai onboard a flight from Taipei Sungshan. Proving that non Chinese/Taiwanese can also take these flights.
I would not think this would be appealing for a western family stationed in Asia
Lets say a family moves here, not only then do they have to get used to the culture but the fact that the hubby and daddy are missing five days a week
Guess they could throw more money at them to compensate
Also Shanghai, from what friends I have there have stated that while some miss and prefer Taiwan, there is a foreign community there and therefore support
Another thing mentioned is corporate headquarters moving to/back to Taiwan. I assume though that costs/overheads are lower in China, and if you need Taiwan staff, its easy to tempt them over to Shanghai with the carrot of quick weekly transport back and forth
Direct flights make it easier for Taiwanese moving back and forth. Will it provide for more investment etc in Taiwan, or enable the by pass of it, perhaps
In the short term EVA and CAL stocks will fall but CAL and EVA are taking steps to utilize this newfound link with China and Chinese airlines. CAL is going to code share with the top 3 major Chinese airlines so that it can offer trips to China from the USA. And I would think EVA is thinking of doing the same.
Both airlines present heavy losses is reflected by the share price but things are looking up now I would say.
A lot of foreign companies may even station some high level employees in Taiwan even if their main focus is China now because of these flights. IF their wives and children would prefer to live in TAiwan while the breadwinner spends the week in China but the weekend in Taiwan?
A spanish citizen was interviewed while heading to Shanghai onboard a flight from Taipei Sungshan. Proving that non Chinese/Taiwanese can also take these flights.
[quote=“Bubba 2 Guns”][quote=“ac_dropout”]You’d be surprised where the shortest distance between two points on a curved surface would take you.
However, HK is not on that point between Shanghai and Taoyuan. Which it the route I’d be most interested in.[/quote]
On a non-Euclidian model it’s an arc–I only knew that because it’s a punchline to my favorite joke.[/quote]
Did it involve a young and lovely lady named Polly Nomial?
Who’s curvilinear coordinates would fixate any man’s attention?
This forum is full of geeks…
Mainland tourists in Taiwan travel in tour groups instead of participating in individual pursuits. Currently the tour groups are only focused on the most well known spots like Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, or NPM. They lack the freedom to pursue individualistic, urban endeavors in say, Tainan, Taizhong, or Gaoxiong.
Ma is ceding leverage power to Beijing on a low-impact issue where they control the number of tourists, as well as their ability to travel unconstrained outside of the few select spots. Beijing is unlikely to allow them to pursue self-exploration in Taiwan like they do in Hong Kong, because of the potential risk of defection.
So I think the impact these tourists will have on Taiwan’s economy will be very minimal (at least during Ma’s first term).
I think that was the case in the past as well, PRC tour groups are put on a tight schedule with curfews.
Are you sure it is a PRC restriction and not a ROC restriction. It is an issue in Taiwan of undocumented workers that are not of PRC origin. I mean those are pretty easy to spot through casual observation, if the government ever wanted to enforce visa issues. However, with people of PRC origin, especially those who are already fluent in Mandarin, Hoklo, or Hakka, they could literally assimilate into Taiwan society without much of a problem.
I only know of PRC business people and artist/entertainers coming over to Taiwan through 3rd country visa that were given the pedestrain access to Taiwan society in general. These people are less of risk to over stay their visa.
You might want to get your facts straight. It’s Taiwan, not China, that insists mainland tourists have to travel in groups. As much as people want to say China is putting up tour restrictions as a leverage against Ma, the restrictions that mainland tourists face while IN TAIWAN originates from Taiwan. China can control who and how many people go to Taiwan(Taiwan also has its own limit on number), but China doesn’t control their itenerary. Make no mistake, it’s Taiwan that says mainland tourists have to travel in groups as a preventive measure against people ovestaying on their travel. There’s also other things like nightly roll calls and strict adherance to travel schedule. It’s like Taiwan is watching over them like prisoners.
Come to think of it, the idea of tour groups, however flawed it may be, does have merit if you look at both sides’ point of view. You wouldn’t want mainland tourists to completely travel at will throughout Taiwan because there is always the possibility that some of these tourists can pose as ‘undercover tourists’ and conduct ulterior motives in Taiwan. In other words, having the ability to move throughout Taiwan unconstrained can also pose a national security threat to ROC from a skeptical Taiwanese perspective.
And there is the threat of defection from the Beijing perspective.