The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it had spoken with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Auckland, after a Taiwanese woman in the New Zealand city was denied services while applying for a driver’s license.
The woman, surnamed Lai (賴), had visited a New Zealand Automobile Association (AA) branch at Westgate Shopping Center in Auckland.
When Lai gave her application to a staff member, she was told that it could not be processed as Lai had written “Taiwan” as her country of birth, she said, New Zealand news Web site Stuff reported.
Photo: Screen grab from the Web site of the New Zealand Automobile Association
The staff member “appeared to be a Chinese lady. I expected her to ask me to do the eyesight test and take a photo,” Lai said. “Instead, she picked up the phone and called someone. She then told me that because I listed Taiwan as my birthplace, she couldn’t process my application.”
When Lai asked another customer service representative to process her application, they told her to write her birth country as “Thailand,” she said.
The situation left her “frustrated,” Lai said, adding that she left the AA office and went to a Vehicle Testing New Zealand site to take her test, which she completed within half an hour.
Lai also wrote a letter of complaint to AA, saying that the first staff member she spoke with “clearly held very strong political opinions.”
Stuff reported that it had spoken with AA Centre Network head Julian Travaglia, who apologized over the incident.
“We can confirm there are no restrictions regarding place of birth on the NZTA [New Zealand Transport Agency] licensing process — Taiwan is a valid option and we regret this wasn’t sorted quickly and efficiently for Ms Lai,” Travaglia said, adding that AA would improve its training.
The ministry said it had instructed Taiwan’s representative office in Auckland to take action to express Taiwan’s position on its sovereignty, and to protect the rights of Taiwanese in New Zealand.
“We will continue to demand corrective action wherever Taiwanese are improperly referred to or are treated unfairly,” it said.
Members of the public could also report denials of the rights of Taiwanese directly to the ministry or to its overseas missions wherever they occur, it said.
Lai said it was good that AA had apologized and intended to improve its training, but she remained unhappy about the treatment she encountered.
“My youngest [child] started to cry, as he’s never seen mum and dad this stressed,” she said.
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
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,
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
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS