[ OUR OPINION ]
U.S. diplomacy needed
for tourism from ChinaHAWAII'S potential for tourism from China is enormous, and the opening in March of a Shanghai office to facilitate nonimmigrant visas was an encouraging development. The Chinese government abruptly closed that office more than two weeks ago, jeopardizing not only tourism but business travel and admission of Chinese students to American universities. The closure is a sign that greater cooperation is needed to ensure a growing exchange of visitors between the two countries.
THE ISSUE
Visa interviews of Chinese citizens wishing to visit the U.S. have been halted by the closing of a Shanghai office that scheduled them.
Applications by graduate students from China and other countries whose citizens are required to obtain visas before entering the United States already were down, a result of tighter security measures taken in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. Applicants at the University of Hawaii-Manoa number 1,300, down from 1,800 the previous year.
"It's hard to get a visa," Peter Garrod, UH associate dean of the graduate division, told the Star-Bulletin's Craig Gima. "It's an unfriendly process." Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge recently discussed the problem with college presidents after being asked by Secretary of State Colin Powell to review visa restrictions.
On March 3, a Chinese company on contract with the U.S. government opened a Shanghai office providing a 24-hour-a-day telephone service to schedule U.S. Embassy interviews for obtaining visas and to provide general information to the Chinese public for the U.S. Consulate. The center reportedly was handling as many as 10,000 phone calls a week.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry shut down the center on April 23, saying the government had not authorized it to charge callers for the service. The company was charging callers the equivalent of $7 for 12 minutes of being on the phone. The closure brought the scheduling of all visa interviews to a halt. Some Chinese had complained that the charges were too steep.
The closure could jeopardize a Hawaii-sponsored training program this summer for Chinese airport managers and public administrators, as well as educational and cultural exchange programs at the East-West Center. It also may have been a factor in the rejection of a proposal to train Chinese hotel managers this summer at the UH School of Travel Industry Management, said Marsha Weinert, Governor Lingle's tourism liaison. Tourism from China could grind to a halt if the Shanghai office remains closed much longer.
The Chinese government's closing of the office is a symptom of the resentment caused by the tightened controls of entry into the United States.
