Taiwan will demand an apology from the Philippine government if Taiwan nationals are found to have been discriminated against when applying for visas to the Southeast Asian country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
"We have asked the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) [in Taipei] to give us a written explanation concerning this whole matter as soon as possible," said MOFA spokeswoman Katharine Chang (張小月).
"If it is true that the Philippine government has been discriminating against Taiwanese applying for visas, we will protest and demand an apology," she added.
Chang was responding to remarks made by KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環).
According to Yang, Taiwanese applying for a Philippine visa who are 65 or over have been asked by officials to sign an affidavit confirming that they are in good physical health and told to pay NT$300 on top of the regular visa processing fee.
Yang claimed that the alleged practice was an obvious act of discrimination against Taiwanese as such measures were only applied to Taiwanese applicants.
MOFA probed into the issue earlier this week by contacting MECO to understand the issue better, said Chang.
Chang said that the visa office had informed the ministry on Friday that it had decided that Taiwanese applicants who are 65 and above would no longer need to supply additional documents on their physical condition, starting from Dec. 1.
The ministry is still awaiting an official written reply from the Philippine visa office on whether such discrimination was indeed directed at Taiwan nationals, said Chang.
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