The European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of Taiwan’s inclusion on its Schengen visa-free list yesterday, edging the country one step closer to enjoying visa-exemption privileges in the EU.
A total of 550 members out of the 612 members in the European Parliament present at the plenary session voted for the proposal, 40 voted against and 13 abstained, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said last night.
The exemption proposal will now proceed to the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) of the EU Council for approval, a meeting scheduled for Dec. 2 and Dec. 3.
“The Republic of China [ROC] sincerely appreciates the European Parliament voting to grant our citizens Schengen visa-waiver status, a proposal MOFA has been actively working on for many years and hopes that the EU Council adopts the proposal by the end of the year,” MOFA spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
If the JHA votes in support of the proposal, Taiwanese holding ROC passports will be able to travel to 28 European countries for short stays of up to 90 days free from visa obligations, effective 20 days after the JHA resolution is promulgated in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The 28 countries include 22 EU member states plus Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, three countries not yet part of the Schengen area, but which maintain the same visa policy as that in the Schengen Agreement, along with three non-EU member states — Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.
ROC passport holders are also entitled to visa-free entry in the UK and Ireland.
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Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
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