DIPLOMACY
Diet members to visit
A record 37 members of the Japanese Diet have signed up to attend the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on May 20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Lai and Hsiao highly value Taiwan’s friendship with Japan and have rich connections in Japanese political and private circles, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chin-jen (陳志任) said. Although it is not easy to take leave to visit Taiwan during a Diet session, Japanese lawmakers have shown great enthusiasm in signing up for the ceremony, Chen said. The Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council is in charge of organizing the delegation, he said. The record number of participants shows that Japan attaches great importance to Taiwan’s new government, he said. In addition, 140 people from 15 non-governmental Taiwan-friendly groups from across Japan are to visit Taiwan to convey their congratulations to Lai and Hsiao, Chen added.
SOCIETY
New search planned
Authorities in Hualien County on Tuesday released photographs and prepared to launch a new search for German academic Ralf Klausnitzer, who went missing in Taroko National Park just days before April 3, when the region was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The Hualien Police Bureau’s Sincheng Precinct said that Klausnitzer spent the night of March 25 in a hotel in Hualien City before setting off at about 9am the following day for the park’s Tianxiang Recreation Area (天祥). He was reported missing to police on April 2, just one day before the earthquake struck, killing 18 people and injuring more than 1,100. Location data from Klausnitzer’s cellphone showed that it was in the Tianxiang area from March 26 until the morning of April 3, when the earthquake hit and the signal was lost, police said. After Klausnitzer was reported missing, police contacted area hotels and also searched popular hiking trails, cabins and tourist sites in the park on April 15, 17, 29, 30 and on Tuesday, but found no sign of him, the precinct said. Hualien’s police and fire departments are planning a new joint search in the area, it said. Klausnitzer, who is in his 50s, arrived in Taiwan in March to lecture at Tamkang University in New Taipei City and had planned to take a trip to Hualien before returning home, a friend of Klausnitzer wrote on social media.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
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