The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said that a new US bill that would expand its visa-waiver program to include several allies in its war on terror could benefit Taiwan.
It said that one of the conditions -- a low rate of visa rejection and overstays -- could apply to Taiwan.
Both the US House and Senate last week passed the Secure Travel and Counterterrorism Partnership Act directing the secretary of Homeland Security to establish a pilot program to expand the visa waiver program for up to five new countries that are cooperating with the US on security and counterterrorism matters.
The act would extend a 90-day visa-free travel privilege to nationals of foreign countries that are allies in the war on terrorism.
Inclusion in the program is conditional on the rates of visa rejection, which needs to be less than 10 percent and the rate of overstays has to be decreased gradually.
The bill has been submitted to the White House and is awaiting US President George W. Bush's signature.
The visa-waiver program currently covers 27 countries. Other than Japan and Australia, all are Western European countries.
MOFA spokesman David Wang (王建業) yesterday pointed out that the government had pushed hard for Taiwanese citizens to obtain preferential treatment allowing them to travel visa-free to the US and Canada for up to for 90 days.
Taiwan meets the provisions that the bill demands, Wang said, pointing out that Taiwan had a low US visa refusal rate of only about 3 percent and few cases of people overstaying.
"If the US allows this legislation to apply to Taiwanese, US-Taiwan relations will be greatly advanced," Wang said. "For example, the peoples of Taiwan and Japan have had much closer relations and interaction since Japan offered free-visa treatment to Taiwanese tourists."
Other countries that meet the bill's criteria and may qualify for inclusion in the visa-waiver program are Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Israel, South Korea, Malta, Slovakia and Uruguay.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS