Taiwan and China launched regular direct weekend air service last Friday after a nearly 60-year ban on direct transport links.
Members of Falun Gong, which is banned in mainland China, demonstrated at some of Taipei's most popular tourist attractions including the National Palace Museum (NPM), which some of the Chinese tourists visited yesterday. The association's leader, Chang Ching-hsi, said members would meditate and hand out leaflets detailing China's alleged crackdown against the group as part of their "flowers everywhere" drive, according to AFP on July 5.
Local Falun Gong follower Liu Mei-yu said she had tried to hand out pamphlets to Chinese tourists at the museum but had been warded off by their tour guides.
There are an estimated 300,000 Falun Gong members in Taiwan. Officials said that Falun Gong members have put pressure on the city's tourism for a long time. At the end of June, the Tainan city government has decided to persuade Falun Gong protestors to leave the historic sites, including the historic Fort Provincia.
Yu Chi-chi of Tainan's Cultural Affairs Bureau told AP in June that Falun Gong practitioners have set up tables and hoisted banners outside several tourist spots in the area, and the city government is worried this will affect the "appearances" of the sites. "If the sect refuses to leave, the matter then will be left to the discretion of the police force," Yu said.
"We just don't want them to see things criticizing their country," Yu said of the mainland Chinese. "If I went to the U.S. and got off the bus and saw signs criticizing Taiwan, I wouldn't feel comfortable."
The city government's cultural and tourism bureau chief Hsu Keng-hsiu said that the city government has long respected the religious thought of Falun Gong and would not use force against the group. The city government will first "try to persuade them to leave," and will "refrain from forcing them to disperse for the time being," he said.
"We'll slowly increase our numbers here to 20 or 25 people, because more mainland tourists will come,"
Shih Tsung-hong, the recreation section chief of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, said that mainland tour guides had complained that their clients did not like running into Falun Gong promoters.
"We're concerned about this problem, and we are trying to get them to reduce their activities," Shih said of Falun Gong.
At least twice a week, sect members gather at the north gate of Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall - a tourist landmark - to descend on passing visitors. But one security guard who has watched the interactions doubted that their activities would sway many.
"Falun Gong gives them information, and the mainland tourists immediately throw it away," he said, with a chuckle. "It's useless."
Falun Gong members acknowledge that mainland tourists almost never accept their material, and that some react badly. One Falun Gong volunteer who asked not to be named said,"Sometimes they criticize us. They say 'Exercise is fine, but don't do this political activity."'
Some observers are skeptical that the group's outreach will make much difference with the mainlanders.
(Facts.org.cn, July 7, 2008)
