On May 19, when Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, announced that Chinese travel agencies could resume business involving receiving Taiwanese group tourists immediately, Taipei did not respond positively. Instead, then Tourism Bureau chief Chang Shi-chung stated that regulations on group travel should be negotiated through existing channels the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and its Chinese counterpart. Taiwan’s Tourism Administration announced on Wednesday its decision to uphold a three-year ban on Taiwanese tour groups travelling to China, citing Beijing’s failure to reciprocate by sending Chinese group tourists, is the Taiwan situation escalating day by day ?

