Taipei has lodged a complaint with Vietnam and demanded a correction after a lawmaker produced a copy of a Vietnamese temporary residence card issued by Hanoi to a Taiwanese that was stamped “Taiwan Province of China,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
“The ministry spoke with Nguyen Ba Cu, director of the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, by telephone to express the government’s serious concern and to protest the matter,” ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) told reporters.
While questioning Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) at the legislature, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) showed a copy of the document, saying: “Visas issued by Vietnam to Taiwanese state that Taiwan is a province of China.”
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
It was subsequently determined that the document Chen said was a “working visa” given to her by a Taiwanese working in Vietnam was in fact a temporary residence card, in which “Taiwan Province of China” was stamped in the space left for applicants to write their nationality or passport number.
The temporary residence card was issued on Dec. 12, 2008, and was valid for three years.
Chen said the holder of the document did not initially notice the reference to “Taiwan Province of China” when he renewed the document in 2008, but the holder was sure that the reference to his nationality in previous documents stated “Republic of China [ROC].”
“After noticing the change, he said he questioned Vietnamese authorities and was told the change was made with the consent of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Chen said.
The ministry denies the allegation.
Chang said the ministry had been informed by the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei that visas issued by Vietnam to holders of ROC passports only contain the word “Taiwan,” and that only visa exemption certificates issued to Taiwanese spouses or children of Vietnamese citizens used the designation “Taiwan Province of China” when referring to nationality.
The ministry has asked for corrections to be made to the visa exemption certificates, Chang said.
The ministry received a Vietnamese official yesterday afternoon, but details of the meeting were not available as of press time.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS