Keywords: Media gridlocks over roots of holiday rush, Senior mainland official meets Taiwan’s former DPP leader

Media gridlocks over roots of holiday rush

China braces for another round of peak travel as millions of holiday-makers return for work this weekend, ending the nation’s longest-ever Golden Week holiday starting from September 30.

However, as Chinese tourists swarmed to scenic spots home and abroad during the eight-day holiday, what was intended to provide the Chinese workforce with a chance at a relaxing and romantic vacation was instead marred with traffic congestion and complaints.

Travelers stuck in the gridlock-laden week also raised questions about the governmental policies in place aimed at stimulating consumption during holidays without following up with the necessary public services.

The Beijing News considered in an editorial piece Sunday that the root of Golden Week travel woes is the government’s tendency of “addressing an incident or social problem via a special project”, such as offering a nationwide extended vacation to meet public demand for holiday time.

Adopting special measures to address a social problem might be helpful and reasonable in some cases, but not vacation issues, the editorial said, adding that other policies such as toll-free roads during holidays only encourages even more vacationers and clogs the highways.

The editorial suggested the government instead should let citizens and their employers negotiate vacation times suited to individual needs.

The Guangzhou Daily opined that the travel rush is rooted in the difference between vacation time needed and the actual time off they are given by employers.

China’s current vacation system cannot satisfy the public’s growing demand for leisure time, which undoubtedly resulted in this year’s travel rush, the paper held.

The Shenzhen-based Jing Daily considered that a combination of paid vacations and more short-term holidays can help satisfy demand for vacation and improve travel conditions.

However, paid vacation policies are not well implemented and many citizens’ are denied the right to a legal holiday, whether it is outright or through indirect pressures by employers, the paper said on Saturday.

The paper suggested the government lay down rules to allow the public to have a say in their vacation plans and offer more services to better facilitate leisure travel.

The transportation authority should consider expanding toll-free highway policies during major holidays to include issuing a pass card which waives fees for motorists taking their vacation during times other than Golden Week.

The government could also adjust the current policy, which only aims at stimulating travel and consumption during intensive periods, by offering sound and reliable public services during vacation periods, the paper said.

Senior mainland official meets Taiwan’s former DPP leader

China’s senior mainland official Wang Yi met with Taiwan Reform Foundation Chairman Hsieh Chang-ting Saturday in Beijing, a visit which both sides regard as “beneficial” to future cross-Straits relations.

The five-day visit amid the Diaoyu spat by Hsieh, the former chairman of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), aroused media discussion over future DPP policy with the mainland after both sides dispatched ships to guard China’s sovereignty over the islands against Japan.

Phoenix TV reported on Sunday that Hsieh’s visit signals changes to come regarding DPP’s previously rigid policies toward the Chinese mainland.

Tsai Ing-wen, another DPP former chairman, is also likely to follow Hsieh with a visit to the mainland in the near future, as she also urged her party to face up to the growing strength of the mainland and the close economic ties between the two sides, said the report.

DPP policy regarding the mainland is very likely to ease, the report held, as low public support for the current Ma Ying-joeu government has encouraged the opposing DPP that a possible majority lies ahead in the near future.

However, the last step for the DPP is to win the support of voters, who will be the party’s driving force in keeping a harmonious and amicable contact with the mainland, according to the report.

Similarly, the Beijing-based opinion portal opinion.china.com.cn held that Hsieh’s visit indicates that the DPP will not stick to its “Taiwan Independence” policy of the past.

Although Hsieh’s visit was made as chairman of the Taiwan Reform Foundation and not as a DPP spokesman, the message conveyed by his visit signals political trends within the DPP, the report said.

The online portal of the Hong Kong-based newspaper Takungpao (takung.cn) published on Friday that since the DPP still maintains hardline views against development and exchange between Taiwan and the mainland, Hsieh risks alienating both his party and supporters.

Hsieh was required to muster his courage and overlook the possible political consequences of his visit to the mainland before conducting the visit, added the report.

The piece went on to say that both sides have realized the dilemma of Hsieh’s visit. Although the mainland warmly received Hsieh, it does not have any high expectations for favorable DPP policy in the future.
There must be conflicts between the humanity of the DPP members and the political stance of the party itself, said the report. But people from the two sides are willing to see governments dealing with the cross-Straits relation on the basis of benevolence and acts of kindness.

Hsieh’s shedding of tears during an ancestor worship ceremony might leave a new image of the DPP and its members on the mainland, the report said. 

It further urges other high-level DPP officials to reevaluate the significance of Hsieh’s visit and the inevitable peaceful development between the two sides as well as the expectations of Taiwan’s public over the DPP’s latest move.