China’s new temporary passport replacement that it yesterday announced would be made available to Taiwanese allows visa-free travel to fewer than half the nations that accept a Taiwanese passport, an academic said yesterday.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced 26 new measures to facilitate “cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges,” one of which is to provide consular services to Taiwanese through China’s embassies and consulates.
The measures are part of China’s “united front” efforts to unify China and Taiwan, and to “mainlandize” Taiwanese, Providence University Department of Tourism associate professor Huang Cheng-tsung (黃正聰) said.
The “travel document” is less useful than a Taiwanese passport, Huang said, adding that it comes with the risk of handing personal information over to the Chinese Communist Party.
That information could be leveraged by Beijing as part of its “united front” efforts, he said.
A Taiwanese applying for an identification document intended for People’s Republic of China citizens might also be putting their Republic of China citizenship at risk, a situation the Mainland Affairs Council has warned about, Chung Hsing Travel Service chairman Lee Chi-yueh (李奇嶽) said.
China has introduced the measure ahead of the winter travel season, as there might be Taiwanese travelers abroad in need of emergency consular services or travel documents, Lee said, adding that there are far more Chinese embassies and consulates than Taiwanese overseas representative offices.
“There have been cases in the past of Taiwanese seeking assistance from Chinese embassies,” Lee said, citing a coup in Egypt in 2013 when Taiwanese left the nation via Chinese aircraft to Beijing, where they transferred to Taiwan.
Taiwanese can apply for the travel document if they want to travel to a nation where Taiwanese generally have trouble obtaining visas, or if they have lost their passport, he said.
When Taiwanese want to travel to Russia or Central Asian nations, they first have to visit China, obtain a travel document and then continue on their journey, he said, adding that this was much faster than applying directly to those nations for visas.
If a Taiwanese loses their passport while in one of those nations they would be able to save time and money by obtaining a travel document from the Chinese embassy, Lee said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could