THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

67

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

urging the president of the united states to secure an authorized destination status agreement with the government of the people's republic of china to allow visitor visas to be issued to citizens of the people's republic of china to visit the united states.

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii is an insular state that lacks many of the traditional natural resources that fuel a state's economy; and

WHEREAS, however, the State is blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, an accommodating climate, and a wealth of Aloha Spirit that continue to support the visitor industry as the backbone of Hawaii's economy; and

WHEREAS, thanks to booming growth in the People's Republic of China during the past decade, the number of households that has become sufficiently well-off to travel for leisure has skyrocketed as China's middle class has swelled; and

WHEREAS, the number of tourists leaving China to visit other countries almost reached 12,000,000 in the first eight months of 2003, which is a fifteen per cent increase over the same period in 2002, and that number is projected to soar to 50,000,000 by 2010, and double again to 100,000,00 by 2020; and

WHEREAS, in fact, China has surpassed Japan for the first time as Asia's largest source of outbound tourists and the World Tourism Organization predicts that China will become the fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2020; and

WHEREAS, twenty-eight countries, including Japan, Australia, major European Union countries, and countries in southeast Asia openly welcome visitors from the People's Republic of China; and

WHEREAS, however, in contrast, the United States government continues to maintain an icy attitude toward Chinese visitors by not issuing tourist visas, apparently in the fear that hordes of Chinese will overstay their visitor visas and become illegal immigrants; and

WHEREAS, Chinese citizens can now only enter the United States on business and education visas; and

WHEREAS, the error lies in not realizing that those Chinese citizens who are well-off enough to spend the money to travel to the United States to visit have no incentive to remain in this country to take on illegal and menial jobs in exchange for the opportunity to participate in a booming Chinese economy and enjoy a very comfortable standard of living in China; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii can take advantage of its natural attraction for Chinese visitors only if the United States changes its visitor policy towards the People's Republic of China by securing an Authorized Destination Status agreement with the Chinese government, which will allow the issuance of visitor visas for Chinese citizens to visit the United States; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that the President of the United States is urged to secure an Authorized Destination Status agreement with the government of the People's Republic of China to allow visitor visas to be issued to citizens of the People's Republic of China to visit the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation are requested to assist the administration to facilitate, to the extent possible, the implementation of this Resolution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary for Homeland Security, Premier Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China, and the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

China; Tourist Visas to U.S.; Authorized Destination Status