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BEIJING - CHINA sought to reassure Taiwan yesterday that its first tour groups to the island will behave well, and told tourists to be good ambassadors.
The first batch of around 800 Chinese will visit Taiwan from Friday following a landmark deal signed early last month between Beijing and Taipei.
The agreement came amid warming ties in the wake of the election of the more China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan's president.
With increasing incomes on the back of an economic boom, Chinese tourists have flocked to travel the globe.
While their spending power has been welcomed, it has been accompanied in places by complaints of bad behaviour such as spitting.
Some Taiwanese have expressed fears that Chinese tourists will be too noisy, cut queues or push their political views.
Mr Zhu Shanzhong, spokesman for China's National Tourism Administration, told a news conference in Beijing that government campaigns against this kind of bad behaviour had been working, and that Taiwanese should not worry.
'Over the past few years, following the rise in living standards of mainland Chinese residents, the people's cultural quality has also continued to rise,' he said.
REUTERS
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