The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced four criteria for foreign students and short-term business travelers from 11 countries and areas with a lower COVID-19 risk who want to apply for a shortened quarantine period upon arrival in Taiwan. The list does not include China.
About 1,100 Chinese students enrolled at National Tsing Hua University and Shih Hsin University earlier this month launched an online petition to the Minsitry of Education to allow them to resume their studies in the nation.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the relaxing of border controls would begin by allowing entry to foreign travelers from lower-risk countries and areas, adding that eligibility could be expanded depending on the actual effects and management capability after the policy is implemented.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Travelers would be eligible for entry if they are applying to stay in Taiwan for less than three months; are participating in short-term business activities, such as examining goods, providing after-sales services, technical support and training, or signing a contract; are departing from countries or areas designated by the CECC as low to medium-low infection risk; and have not visited other countries or areas within 14 days of their departure.
As all people eligible to enter Taiwan are put under 14-day home quarantine upon arrival, the new policy intends to make it easier for short-term business travelers to visit with a shorter quarantine period, Chen said.
“Those departing from low to medium-low infection risk countries or areas can apply for a polymerase chain reaction [PCR] test, paid out-of-pocket, after five or seven days of quarantine,” he said, adding that they must continue to practice self-health management for 21 days after entry if they test negative.
Those from low-risk countries would be allowed to leave quarantine after five days, while those from medium-low infection risk countries would be quarantined for seven days.
Eligible business travelers should provide their invitation documents, travel itinerary and disease prevention plan, as well as a negative PCR test result obtained within three days of boarding their flight, when applying for the shortened quarantine period, Chen said.
The low infection risk countries or areas include New Zealand, Australia, Macau, Palau, Fiji, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, Mongolia and Bhutan.
The medium-low infection risk countries include South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, Chen said.
Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said that the list would be revised every two weeks to reflect the COVID-19 situation in each country or area.
Students who are due to graduate this year would have first priority for returning to Taiwan, followed by students in their second year or above, and lastly, freshmen, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said.
They would be put in quarantine hotels before being allowed to return to their campuses, Pan added.
Among a total of 8,199 foreign students who have not returned to Taiwan, 2,238 students from the 11 listed countries would be among the first batch eligible to return, he said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that it welcomes the central government’s decision to allow overseas students to return.
However, the government should allow Chinese students to return based on the COVID-19 situation in different Chinese provinces, it said.
The party called on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to stop what it described as a “discriminatory” practice.
It asked why the CECC had, at the begining of the pandemic, assigned levels of risk and border restrictions according to different provinces, cities or other regions in China, but was not following the same principle with regards to the admittance of students.
Citing official Chinese data, the KMT said that with the exception of Beijing, the other seven provinces or cities where Chinese students studying in Taiwan come from should be considered “low-risk” areas.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS