The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) confirmed yesterday that eight DPP legislators were still awaiting visas to travel to Hong Kong for ROC National Day celebrations, while nine KMT and PFP lawmakers in the same delegation have already received theirs.
But Chen Chung-hong (
"The Hong Kong government usually rejects visa applications from DPP officials. We should not read too much into this particular instance," Chen said.
The 18-member delegation hopes to attend activities related to the Hsinhai Revolution (
However, only one DPP legislator, Chang Chin-fang (
Since President Chen Shui-bian (
KMT and PFP lawmakers have not experienced such difficulties.
Only one TSU lawmaker has ever succeeded in obtaining a visa to Hong Kong and China, while at least half of the party's 13 lawmakers have had their visa applications rejected.
Chen Chung-hong (陳崇弘), the director of the MAC's Department of Information and Liaison, said that the eight DPP lawmakers in the delegation have gone to Macau to wait for their visas.
"If they get their visas approved in time, they will go to Hong Kong to participate in those activities. Otherwise they will come back to Taiwan," Chen Chung-hong said.
Meanwhile, Director of the DPP's Chinese Affairs Department Chen Chung-hsin (
Chen Chung-hsin assumed his current party post at the end of July, the same time as Chen Shui-bian took over the party chairmanship.
"I have a lot of things to do here in Taiwan. And I turned my visa application in very late last Friday. It is not necessary to think about things in a complicated way," he told the Taipei Times, declining to comment further.
According to the MAC, the DPP lawmakers who are still waiting for visas are Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠), Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲), Chiu Chuang-chin (邱創進), Chen Mao-nan (陳茂男), Ho Chin-sung (何金松), Tang Hou-sheng (湯火聖), Chang Hua-kuan (張花冠) and Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧).
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
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