FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Passport issue linked to vote
Kiribati’s reported decision to no longer accept Taiwan’s passport might be related to its upcoming general elections, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. A Taiwanese surnamed Huang (黃), who tried to visit Kiribati in June, wrote on Facebook that an immigration official told him the Pacific island country no longer accepted Taiwan’s passport and denied his visa application. Due to the lack of official relations with Kiribati, the ministry looked into the situation through a third party, East Asia and Pacific Affairs Deputy Director-General Eric Chen (陳俊吉) said. Kiribati authorities had not made any public announcement on the decision not to accept the passport, Chen said. Kiribati severed ties with Taiwan and switched diplomatic recognition to China in 2019. The ministry has since learned that Kiribati has toughened up its screening of all inbound foreign visitors over the past few months ahead of its parliamentary elections today. It now believes the June incident when Huang was denied a visa did not only target Taiwanese, Chen said.
CROSS-STRAIT
Crew members returned
Four crew members of a fishing boat detained by China were returned to Taiwan yesterday morning after 42 days in Chinese custody, officials said. The crew members — a Taiwanese man surnamed Ting (丁) and three Indonesians — were brought to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, where they were picked up by the Da Jin Man No. 96 fishing boat, the officials said. The captain of the detained Da Jin Man No. 88 and the boat itself are still being held in China pending the completion of judicial proceedings, they said. As China is prosecuting the case as a matter of illegal fishing during a seasonal moratorium, it involves more than only a fine and has resulted in more than a month of cross-strait negotiations. The four crew members were returned at 10:30am and were scheduled to return to Penghu County today. The captain was reportedly safe, although his movements were restricted to the hotel at which he was staying, the officials said. Former legislator Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤) and others visited him at the hotel for 20 minutes in the morning before going to the wharf where the four fishers departed to make sure they boarded safely, they said.
ENVIRONMENT
Green achievements touted
Representative to Israel Abby Lee (李雅萍) presented Taiwan’s policies and achievements in green architecture to Israeli officials and non-governmental organizations (NGO) at a forum on Monday. Lee said that more than 30 architects, engineers and city planners attended the forum on sustainable development in Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, a city in central Israel. The forum was jointly organized by NGOs including the Israel Green Building Council and the Israeli Association of Municipal Engineers. Lee spoke about Taiwan’s experience and policies relating to environmental protection, green architecture and earthquake resistance, and about its cooperation with Israel on environmental issues. Taipei and Jerusalem in 2013 signed a memorandum of understanding on environmental protection cooperation, and dialogue and exchanges between the two sides on environmental issues have been “institutionalized,” she said. In March, Taiwan announced its Pathway to Net Zero Emissions in 2050 strategy, which outlines methods and key milestones to achieve a net zero economy, according to the National Development Council.
In terms of sustainable architecture, the policy includes a milestone that “new public buildings are energy efficiency ‘class 1,’ or nearly zero emissions” by 2030, it said, adding that 100 percent of new buildings and more than 85 percent of existing buildings should be near zero emissions by 2050.
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
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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