Taiwan might lengthen the duration of work visas and open a path to permanent residency for Filipino workers to expand the nation’s migrant workforce, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said.
He made the remarks during an interview with the Manila-based English-language newspaper Philippine Star published yesterday.
As of April, Taiwan was home to 154,000 Filipino migrant workers who made up 21 percent of the legal migrant workforce, Ministry of Labor data showed.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“The discussion has been under way for some time. And they [Filipino workers] might even be able to apply for permanent residency here in Taiwan,” Wu was quoted as saying.
“That is under discussion, but I won’t be able to give you the details before decisions are made,” he added.
Filipino workers are “an integral part of Taiwanese society” and their presence in Taiwan is appreciated, Wu said.
Manila could consider granting visa-free entry privileges to Taiwanese travelers to reciprocate the proposed extension to Filipino workers, Wu said.
“If the Philippine government can do that, I am sure it will make it so much more convenient and easy for Taiwan to consider the extension of visa[-free entry for Filipinos],” he said.
Taiwan’s visa-free entry program covering Philippine travelers is to expire at the end of next month. The two governments are to re-evaluate the program for renewal, the newspaper said.
Regarding rising tensions between Manila and Beijing, Wu said Taiwan and the Philippines should enter some form of security cooperation, as the two countries face the same threat.
Wu refused to elaborate on the nature of possible security cooperation, saying that he cannot talk about details of possible arrangements, but the issue is “one of the areas we should think about.”
Collaboration in coast guard operations and disaster response are other areas where cooperation is possible, he said.
Taiwan welcomes the US’ decision to bolster the defense capabilities of the Philippines by various means, including establishing new military installations under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Wu said.
Asked if setting up additional US bases in the Philippines could be seen as provocative by Beijing, he said: “What is causing provocation in this region is China’s expansionism.”
Should China attack Taiwan, the Philippines could be the next target in Beijing’s cross hairs, Wu said.
“We think that the best way for us at this moment is for Taiwan and other claimants of the South China Sea to enter into peaceful research of the natural resources or engage in scientific endeavors together or jointly develop the resources,” he said.
Taipei hopes that Taiwan-Philippines relations would improve under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose calls for regional peace and stability were welcomed by many Taiwanese, he added.
“As long as there is a desire on the part of the Philippines, Taiwan will be there to work together with the Philippines,” Wu said, adding that the Philippines is the nation’s closest neighbor.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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