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Thailand relents over visa flap

The Thai government invited Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Minister Chen Chu (陳菊) to attend a Taiwan-Thailand conference on labor affairs next month, the country's representative to Thailand, Paul Cheng (鄭博久), said yesterday.

The invitation is seen as Thailand's gesture to soften its diplomatic treatment of visiting Taiwanese officials. In December, Thailand issued a tourist visa to Chen for her to join a labor affairs conference, although Bangkok originally promised it would grant her a courtesy visa.

The CLA reacted to the incident by lengthening the period of time for reviewing Thai laborers' applications for work permits from one week to 35 days, and further prolonging the review period to 60 days starting in February, after Thailand showed no sign of relenting its position on the visa issue.

In a question-and-answer session in the legislature, Cheng said some Thai legislators had urged their government to grant Chen a courtesy visa. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand also actively negotiated with the Thai government over the matter, Cheng said.

"The Thai government's attitude has been improving," the diplomat said. The bilateral labor affairs conference will take place in Thailand on June 2 and 3.

At present, there are around 100,000 Thai workers in Taiwan. The country introduced Thai workers in 1991, and Thai laborers make up 39.1 percent of all foreign laborers in Taiwan, according to Cheng's report in the legislature.

"Thai laborers work diligently and have a gentle temperament. Our companies and factories like to employee them. More than 820,000 Thai workers have come to Taiwan [since 1991]," Cheng said.

Cheng reported there are around 3,000 Taiwanese companies in Thailand, which employ more than 500,000 local workers.

Meanwhile, the diplomat said that currently 102 Taiwanese criminals, most of them drug dealers, are serving prison sentences in Thailand. Around 72 Thais are now jailed in Taiwan.

Taiwan's efforts to sign a prisoner exchange agreement with Thailand, Cheng said, have made little progress because Thailand said it would break domestic law to sign such an agreement with Taiwan, which is not a diplomatic ally of Thailand.

It would be possible for Thailand to ink an agreement with Taiwan only if it amended its domestic law, Cheng said, adding that the process of amending the law is "complicated and time-consuming."

The present political atmosphere in Thailand does not help quicken the process, as political ties between Taiwan and Thailand -- affected by the China factor -- are "relatively weak," Cheng said.

Due to pressure from China, he added, it is difficult to arrange visits by senior Thai and Taiwanese government officials.

"Thailand keeps a low-profile in handling political issues with Taiwan, but maintains close economic and trade relations with us. Influenced by historical and geographical factors, Thailand is eager to maintain enduring, close and stable ties with China," Cheng said.

Taiwan's efforts to strengthen the political relationship with Thailand have not gone very far because political, military and economic exchanges between China and Thailand are vibrant, the representative said.

"But the representative office continues working on improving relationships between Taiwanese and Thai politicians," Cheng said.
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