New hotlines to help people evaluate possible safety risks before they travel to China, Hong Kong or Macau have been launched, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement on Monday.
The hotlines were launched amid a rise in inquiries from Taiwanese planning to travel to China, the council said.
The number of people who used its “Online Registration System for Taiwanese Citizens Visiting Mainland China” this year through Oct. 31 had increased 14-fold from the same period last year, it said.
Photo: Reuters
Registrations for people traveling to Hong Kong and Macau had increased five-fold from the same period last year, it added.
Taiwanese traveling to China do not have to inform the government, but for safety reasons, there is a system that allows it, the council said.
To assist people to use the new online registration system, or to evaluate potential safety risks of their travel plans, the council and the Straits Exchange Foundation jointly launched the hotline services, which are available on weekdays from 9am to 5pm, it said.
People planning to travel to China can use the Mainland Affairs Council’s hotline at (02) 2397-5589 (ex 5011) or the Straits Exchange Foundation’s hotline at (02) 2175-7000 (ex 7033), while people traveling to Hong Kong or Macau can contact the council at (02) 2397-5589 (ex 6015), the statement said.
The services were launched after Beijing amended and enacted national security laws in the past few years, and on June 21 issued a new set of guidelines targeting advocates of Taiwanese independence.
There have also been multiple cases of Taiwanese being “illegally detained, held and interrogated” in China, the council said.
The council on June 27 raised its travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to the second-highest “orange” level, urging people to avoid unnecessary travel there due to increasing safety concerns, it added.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS