Taiwan has rejected applications by Chinese tourism officials to enter the island for an international travel fair next month, authorities said Thursday, citing the current "cross-strait situation" with China.

The National Immigration Agency said that, after taking into consideration the overall cross-strait situation, “there are doubts over the necessity, urgency and irreplaceability of their participation, and therefore their applications are not approved.” The Taipei International Summer Travel Exposition had invited provincial tourism officials from China, but the Mainland Affairs Council said that about 70 of these officials had their entry permits denied.

However, the Council noted that “nearly 200 (tourism) operators and actors” from China were still attending the fair. The Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office had on Wednesday criticised Taipei for the travel restrictions on group tours from Taiwan to the mainland.

Spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian said that Taiwan should “face up to the wishes and expectations of the majority of Taiwanese people and the tourism industry, and lift the unreasonable restrictions on group tours.” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Jan Jyh-horng stated that since Beijing reopened borders in January, there had been cases of Taiwanese people facing “all kinds of harassment, detention and unfriendly treatment”.

He added that scholars and experts have increasingly voiced concern about travelling to China for seminars or meetings. Jan said that they hope that mainland China will improve their travel environment as soon as possible. The current travel restrictions between Taiwan and China are a result of the political tensions between the two sides, which have been exacerbated by pandemic-driven border closures.

Since 2016, Taiwan has experienced a sharp drop in tourism from the mainland after President Tsai Ing-wen, who rejects China's claim over the island, took office. In April, Li Yanhe — a China-born publisher based in Taiwan whose printing house has released books critical of the Chinese Communist Party — was reported missing when he visited Shanghai. Beijing later confirmed Li had been placed under investigation for “endangering national security”.

Taiwan’s rejection of Chinese tourism officials to attend the international travel fair is a reflection of the current tense cross-strait situation.

The Taiwanese government has made it clear that they will not allow tour groups from Taiwan to enter China, and their decision to deny entry to Chinese officials is also a result of the fear of harassment and mistreatment of Taiwanese people travelling to the mainland.

The Taiwanese government has expressed hope that China will improve their travel environment in order to foster a more positive relationship between the two sides.