TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Minister of Transportation and Communication Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) made his first public appearance in his new role on Monday (Sept. 2) where he offered an olive branch to China to promote cross-strait tourism.

The MOTC held a handover ceremony to welcome Chen into his new post. The handover was supervised by Minister Without Portfolio Chen Chin-te (陳金德), per UDN.

Chen is no stranger to politics as he previously served as Cabinet spokesman. In his new role, he pledged to work hard in all of his expected duties, especially in promoting and developing Taiwan tourism.

In his first speech as transport minister, Chen said he accompanied Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in his previous duties to inspect transport construction projects across Taiwan. As he prepares for his new role, he set three expectations and one goal.

Chen said the first expectation is to respect professionals, as the MOTC has over 61,000 employees. He would respect every worker's professionalism, expecting the quickest and most correct analysis.

Chen said his second expectation is to implement President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) National Project of Hope. His third expectation is to serve in the same spirit as the Cabinet and assist everyone at the front line.

As for his future goal upon taking office, Chen said his priority is people-oriented transportation and convenient travel in Taiwan. He estimated the total number of Taiwanese visiting China is 1.58 million, with only 220,000 Chinese visiting Taiwan this year. 

Chen said the biggest help to Taiwan’s tourism industry would be opening the market to Chinese tourists. Chen said he would call upon China to allow more tourists to visit Taiwan, whether in travel groups or independently. 

He added Taiwan has extended an olive branch, though China has not yet shown any signs of opening up.