MAC Vice Chairman Liu Teh-hsun said it is illegal under the nation's currency law to buy or sell Chinese yuan privately and called for travel agency operators and tour guides to avoid such practices, especially now that the Chinese New Year holiday is approaching and transactions in the Chinese currency is anticipated to increase sharply.

Liu said the MAC will collaborate with the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to jointly control illegal transactions in Chinese yuan in order to prevent possible currency irregularities from occurring.

Currently, only banking institutions, airports and seaports in the Taiwan-held outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu are allowed to engage in exchanges of Chinese yuan, Liu said.

He added that between the time that exchanges in Chinese yuan were first permitted on Kinmen and Matsu early last year and December 2006, about 228.11 million worth of Chinese yuan has been exchanged. Of that total, over 99.5 percent was bought or sold by Taiwan residents.

Liu attributed most of the large volume of transactions in yuan on Kinmen and Matsu by Taiwan residents to speculation that the value of the Chinese yuan might further appreciate, and to an increasing number of Taiwanese residents traveling back and forth between Taiwan and China via Kinmen and Matsu.