Philippine nationals could become eligible for visa-free entry for stays in Taiwan of up to 14 days by next month or November, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Winston Chen (陳文儀) said yesterday.
The details of the new policy were hammered out at an interministerial meeting of national security, police, immigration and other officials, Chen said at a news conference, adding that Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the program on Wednesday.
The government has decided to implement the visa-free program on a trial basis to promote people-to-people, tourist and commercial exchanges between Taiwan and the Philippines, Chen said, adding that the start date for the trial is expected to be announced in a month.
Photo: CNA
The government encourages Manila to follow the principle of reciprocity and grant Taiwanese nationals visa-free privileges as soon as possible, Chen said.
The government has since Aug. 1 relaxed visa rules for nationals of the 10 ASEAN member states, which include the Philippines, as well as for Indian nationals.
Taiwan included the Philippines in its electronic visa program on Oct. 7 last year.
The Travel Agent Association of the Republic of China, Taiwan said it expected the visa-waiver program to attract 33 percent more Philippine visitors to Taiwan next year and boost tourism revenue by NT$2 billion (US$65.8 million).
Tourism revenue from Philippine tourists has been forecast to reach NT$7 billion this year, it said.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (MECO) later yesterday said that it welcomes the ministry’s plan for the visa waiver program, adding that it would respond to the friendly gesture by relaxing visa requirements for Taiwanese travelers in the Philippines.
In a separate statement, it called for Taipei and Manila to work more closely together, especially on fighting cross-border crime.
That statement came a day after the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila rejected a claim by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that drugs in the Philippines originated in Taiwan.
MECO Chairman Angelito Banayo called for closer cooperation in the areas of law enforcement and combating organized crime.
“We all know that organized crime, specifically drug trafficking, knows no borders, which calls for closer coordination between the Philippine and Taiwan authorities,” Banayo said.
MECO and TECO have been working together “closely in forging agreements on law enforcement cooperation aimed at addressing borderless crimes such as drug smuggling and human trafficking,” the statement said.
Such law enforcement agreements are in the pipeline and are expected to be signed by the end of this year or early next year, the statement added.
One of the key components of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) New Southbound Policy is to strengthen collaboration with other nations to fight international crime, which in the case of the Philippines means a concerted effort to combat narcotics, the statement said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS