The National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday said it would approve the visit of a billionaire Chinese philanthropist who plans to hand out millions of NT dollars to some of the nation’s poorest families ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
NIA Deputy Director-General Ho Jung-tsun (何榮村) said Chen Guangbiao (陳光標) and his 47-member delegation would arrive today for a six-day visit. Since their trip was business-related, they will not have any problem staying as long as they stick to the itinerary they proposed, Ho said.
Ho said Chen planned to donate money in Hsinchu, Nantou and Hualien counties, something his agency was happy to see.
The NIA held a meeting yesterday to discuss Chen’s plan after media reports said Chen -intended to make the donations in a high-profile spectacle, Ho said.
He said Chen should read the reports while he is here and consider donating his money through charity organizations.
The United Daily News on Monday reported that Chen has prepared about 50,000 red -envelopes embossed with the inscription “The day is cold, the ground freezing, but the people’s hearts are warm. The Chinese race is one family and a fire in the winter (中華民族一家親,冬天裡的一把火).”
The Taoyuan County Government has said it would not allow Chen to hand out money there.
New Taipei City (新北市) said on Monday that it will allow the donations if Chen accepts the assistance of a city councilor and a public service center. A report by United Daily News yesterday said the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) had tried to block Chen from entering the country.
However, MAC Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) dismissed the headline as “wrong,” saying the government would not prevent any individual from doing good deeds.
Amid reports that Chen would bring a group of reporters with him and ask recipients to bow and thank him, Lai said the way the money is given out should be appropriate and the dignity of the recipients must be factored in.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said the council was not involved in the review of Chen’s visa application, which fell under the jurisdiction of the immigration agency.
Liu said the council did contact the agency at one point, but only to obtain Chen’s original itinerary after hearing of his plans from media reports. He denied the council had tried to obstruct Chen’s visit.
This week’s trip would be Chen’s fourth visit to Taiwan, Liu said, adding that the purpose of his visit was business. The immigration agency had re-examined Chen’s plans after realizing his original itinerary was inconsistent with media reports.
The council respected the agency’s decision to review Chen’s application and would respect its final decision, Liu said.
Liu also urged Chen to consider making his donations through charities so it would be handled correctly and be well received by the public.
Asked to comment on Chen’s visit, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said people who wish to do good deeds should take into consideration the recipients’ feelings about how donations are given out.
“It is still more appropriate [to give donations] through civilian groups,” said Hau, who served briefly as secretary-general of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China.
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said she welcomed anyone who wanted to do good deeds and help the disadvantaged, but the process should respect recipients’ feelings.
Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) said that if Chen truly desired to help the disadvantaged families in Taiwan, he should map out a long-term plan, establish a charity and deal accordingly with the Ministry of the Interior.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS