The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday raised its travel alert for Egypt from “orange” to “red,” the highest level in its warning system, the Tourism Bureau said.
The move came one day after the ministry issued an orange alert on travel to Egypt, advising travelers to avoid unnecessary trips to the country. The new advisory calls for travelers to cancel their trips.
The Tourism Bureau said the ministry raised the travel alert after demonstrations against the Egyptian government continued to escalate, adding that protesters were reported to have attacked the headquarters of the National Democratic Party as well as banks and supermarkets.
Amid rising tensions, the Egyptian government also implemented a curfew from 4pm Saturday until 8am yesterday. All communication services, including the Internet and mobile phones, were disconnected during the curfew, the bureau said.
AGREEMENT
The bureau said it had reached an agreement with the Travel Agent Association (TAA) and the Travel Quality Assurance Association so that travelers forced to cancel their trips because of the travel warning would be refunded based on Clause 28 of the Standardized Contract for Overseas Tour (國外旅遊定型化契約書範本), which stipulates that a contract between travel agents and travelers may be rescinded because of force majeure — a reason for which neither party can be held responsible.
The same clause states that travel agents may first deduct any expenditure that was made on behalf of the travelers or that was necessarily incurred in executing the contract.
To minimize losses, travelers could choose to either postpone their trips or switch to tours to other countries, the bureau said.
The TAA estimates that about 800 Taiwanese on high-end tour packages were scheduled to leave for the north African country during the Lunar New Year holiday, each paying between NT$70,000 and NT$110,000.
TAIWANESE IN EGYPT
The ministry said 22 Taiwanese businessmen were in Cairo and 410 Taiwanese tourists were currently in Egypt.
Ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said all were accounted for and safe.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
RSS