The government’s New Southbound Policy last year boosted tourism and trade links with the countries covered by the policy, while education programs stagnated, statistics published by the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations showed.
People visiting Taiwan from the 18 nations covered by the policy last year rose by 2.7 million people, or 6.8 percent, from the previous year, the figures showed.
They accounted for 23 percent of all foreign visitors to Taiwan, the office said.
Taiwanese visiting the policy nations rose 15.1 percent annually to 3.2 million, accounting for 18.8 percent of all Taiwanese traveling abroad, it said.
Taiwan also rose to third place in the top 10 list of non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation destinations, up from fifth in 2018, the office said, citing the 2019 Global Muslim Travel Index published by CrescentRating and Mastercard.
Taiwan’s exports to policy nations last year totaled US$63.1 billion, while imports were US$48.8 billion, the office said.
The government authorized 267 investment applications totaling US$2.79 billion in the countries covered by the policy and authorized 645 applications by companies from the countries to invest in Taiwan, for a total US$1.09 billion, the office said.
Taiwanese construction projects under the policy focus on power plants, petrochemical industries, electronic toll collection systems, mass-rapid transit systems, and environmental and water resource projects, it said.
As of December last year, Taiwanese companies had received permission to start 41 construction projects valued at NT$26.4 billion (US$871.2 million at the current exchange rate), the office said.
In education, 53,099 students came to Taiwan from policy countries, while 21,718 Taiwanese students went to countries covered by the policy to study, it said.
The number of foreign students enrolled in the normal program specifically created for the policy last year totaled 1,346 people, falling from 4,004 in 2018, the office said.
The number of students enrolled in the mid-high-tier professional skill program also fell from 87 in 2018 to 30 last year, it said.
Last year, 844 foreign students were enrolled in the youth vocational training course in 15 educational institutes, and 2,115 students were enrolled in the compatriots’ vocational classes at high schools and universities, the office said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but