China to Let Mainland Tourists Visit Taiwan

China said earlier this week it will let mainland tourists visit Taiwan, ending a decades-old ban and pressing its campaign of offering economic benefits to woo its rival into pursuing closer ties.

Allowing tourism was among promises made by Beijing during recent visits by two Taiwanese opposition leaders in an effort to build sentiment on the island, which China claims as its own territory, in favor of uniting with the continental territory.

In Taipei, Premier Frank Hsieh welcomed the possibility of more tourists, but said Taiwan still has to work out how long they would be allowed to stay and other details.

The end of the ban on Chinese tourism to Taiwan was announced by the mainland´s State Tourism Bureau. It didn´t say when the first tourist trips could take place.

The step will "push forward the development of Taiwan´s tourism industries and impress the Taiwanese masses with the benefits of the opening up of mainland tourism," the agency said in a statement carried by the Web site of the Communist Party newspaper People´s Daily.