For Tsai Jo-shih (
"I had never imagined the word `Taiwan' on the passport would be so useful," Tsai said upon retrieving his confiscated passport and visa fee after the Taiwanese embassy intervened on his behalf on Wednesday.
The misunderstanding arose when Tsai handed customs officials his Taiwanese passport, issued in 2001, to enter St. Lucia during the Taiwan Bird Observation Team's visit to the country.
PHOTO: CHENG HSU-KAI, TAIPEI TIMES
The team, of which Tsai is a member, was commissioned to help St. Lucia investigate, observe and establish a database for its bird population.
The new version of the Taiwanese passport, with the name "Taiwan" on the cover, started being issued on Sept. 1, 2003.
Mistaking Tsai's old passport for a Chinese one, St. Lucia immigration officers confiscated his passport and asked him to pay the US$50 visa fee.
Taiwanese Ambassador to St. Lucia Tom Chou (
Many people cannot tell Taiwan from China, he said.
"Adding `Taiwan' on the cover of the passport is the right policy and it would have solved the problem in this case," Chou said.
Team leader Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), who is also a Democratic Progressive Party legislator, said that Chinese passport holders are often questioned at customs and have to go through stricter security checks because of the great number of Chinese human smugglers.
St. Lucia first established diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1984, before switching diplomatic recognition to China.
It restored diplomatic relations with Taiwan on April 26. On April 30, St. Lucia Minister of Foreign Affairs Rufus Bousquet and his Taiwanese counterpart, James Huang (黃志芳), signed a joint communique on restoring ties between the two countries in Castries.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS