A group of foreign ambassadors and representatives to Taiwan and their family members yesterday completed a two-day trip to Penghu arranged by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to promote the nation’s tourism and deepen foreigners’ understanding of Taiwan.
The trip was attended by ambassadors from 10 of the nation’s 18 diplomatic allies, as well as representatives of 22 nations with which Taiwan does not have formal ties, including Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic, France, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, India, Israel, Nigeria, Japan and South Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Penghu was chosen as the destination due to its unique marine ecology and basalt formations, the ministry said in a news release on Friday.
Photo: CNA
Penghu, located 24km from Taiwan proper, was skipped only in 2011 by Lonely Planet in its top 10 paradise islands list, and is a favorite domestic tourism destination, the ministry said.
“We also hope to increase Penghu’s international profile through the trip,” it added.
The itinerary for the two-day trip included the island’s White Bay, the traditional Erkan (二崁) village, the Daguoye (大?葉) columnar basalt cliffs and Hujing Islet (虎井嶼).
The village, which was in 2001 the first to be designated by the government as a traditional settlement, dates to the end of the Ming Dynasty, when a man named Chen Yan-yi (陳延益) came to Penghu from Kinmen, the Penghu National Scenic Area Administration said on its Web site.
Chen’s family, who became fishers, began to grow and the area gradually developed into a village in the 1820s, the Web site said.
In March, the ministry arranged a similar trip to Hualien County for foreign diplomats in Taiwan, it said, adding that it would continue to organize similar trips to promote tourism.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS