Chinaís ìfifth columnî = tourists
Friday, May 14, 2004 at 3:16AM "In Pacific, a Red Carpet For China's Rich Tourists," by James Brooke, New York Times, 13 May, p. W1.
In 1993 Chinese tourists traveling abroad numbered about 3 million. Today that number is over 20 million. That, my friends, is a clear sign of a country opening up to the outside world and joining the global economy.
So now tourist havens all over Asia are scrambling to attract this glorious pool of spendthrifts: for example, in Guam, the average Chinese tourist engages in $1,500 of shopping during vacations there, almost triple what the average Japanese tourist spends.
Now even Japan is working hard to attract Chinese tourists.
Better take down those ìJapanese onlyî signs!
All over Asia the Chinese tourists are rapidly replacing the Japanese as the preferred vacationing guest. Why is this happening? The article cites ìtwo crucial moves by the government last fall to placate the growing middle classî: 100 extra cities in China were opened up in terms of letting their citizens travel abroad (previously, only citizens of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou had this privilege); and now citizens can take $6,000 out of the country on their trips instead of $2,000 in years past.
Yet another nasty sign that China is plotting to conquer the world . . .
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