Did I just make up certain regulations about Chinese tourists abroad?

[gitfiddle]

I was thinking about Chinese tourists this afternoon – because we’re about to start getting a lot more of them here in Taiwan. I was reading about certain "makeover " taking place at the Taiwan in the Democracy Plaza/Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, a move that’s feeding the suspicions of those who think it was in preparation for the Chinese tourists (i.e. wouldn’t want to make the Chinese angry). There’s also the issue of the government urging Falun Gong members from setting up booths at popular tourist sites so as not to offend the sensibilities of the new visitors.

This reminded me of something I read a while back about one of the reasons that the US doesn’t/didn’t have “Approved Destination Status” in the eyes of the PRC. It said something along the lines of the fact that part of the agreement meant not encouraging/allowing Chinese tourists in the US to visit certain places that were deemed too likely to inspire democratic sentiments.

I remember asking myself how you could let someone into the country and expect to efficiently weed Chinese tourists out of popular tourist destinations.

Anyhow, now I’m asking myself if I just made the whole damn thing up. Going back through my del.icio.us bookmarks, I can’t find any article to that effect. The only one I can find that mentions ADS is this one, which says:

Initially difficult to get, destination approval has now been won by more than 115 countries. Beijing continues to use this “privilege” strategically, however. When Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to Fiji in early April, destination approval was among the cookies offered the tiny South Pacific nation in return for not recognizing Taiwan diplomatically. Tourism incentives were also used recently to wrench Grenada and Dominica from Taiwan’s diplomatic orbit.

More broadly, Beijing is using tourism to win diplomatic points with resource-rich African and Latin American nations keen to diversify their economies, in line with its gradual expansion of global power.

“Chinese tourists can be a real contributor to the global economy and world peace,” said Zhang Guangrui, director of tourist research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “China needs the world, and the world needs China.”

Prominently missing from the approved list is the United States, less a function of Beijing foot-dragging than restrictive U.S. visa policies after the Sept. 11 attacks. Washington has also balked at channeling business through preferred travel agents, which it terms market interference. Chinese still tour the U.S. on official, student and family-visit visas, but these are more difficult to get.

“This is the third time since 2001 I applied for a U.S. visa,” said Wang Xibing, a 70-year-old retired worker in the chemical industry, emerging from the American Embassy in Beijing. “I finally got it, but it’s a bit late. I wanted to travel with my wife, who died last year. America is good in other ways, but not this one.”

So, did I just make up the politically sensitive site travel agreement? I can’t find anything on the requirements China has for a country getting ADS, so I’m wondering if the PRC does try to get countries to agree to try to keep Chinese away from certain sites.

Sounds pretty hard/impossible to do, if that is what they want.