American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young said yesterday that the administration of US president-elect Barack Obama would give careful consideration to including Taiwan in the US Visa Waiver Program if it meets the requirements.
During a speech at an American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei luncheon, Young said that he would not rule out the possibility that Taiwanese would eventually get visa-free treatment when they travel to the US.
However, Young said that there were a number of issues that needed to be resolved before Taiwan could be considered for the program, which was granted last month to citizens of seven countries, including South Korea.
Under the program, citizens of member countries may travel to the US without a visa for up to 90 days for business or pleasure.
Young said that the US remained a favorite destination for study, business and leisure for Taiwanese, but too often the US has found instances where people who were not Taiwanese have been able to obtain genuine Republic of China passports.
“We applaud Taiwan’s efforts to introduce a new passport,” Young said, referring to the “ePassports” that Taiwan plans to roll out at the end of the month.
The electronic passports are embedded with a chip that contains the biometric data and the facial image of the passport bearer. They are difficult to forge.
Young said the US hoped that the new passports and other measures including the strengthening of passport application procedures would help reduce passport fraud.
Young said that the US recognized that Taiwanese travelers to the US had a strong reputation for abiding by the country’s immigration laws and for spending generously while in the US, which was why he thinks that the new administration would look favorably upon Taiwan.
“People-to-people exchange is a critical component of our relationship,” Young said, adding that many Taiwanese government officials obtained their degrees in the US.
The US Department of Homeland Security has said there were 36,000 students from Taiwan in the US, making Taiwan second only to South Korea worldwide in terms of the portion of its overall population studying in the US.
Young said that he was glad to see that the number of Taiwanese students in the US remained strong.
On the other hand, he said there had been a drop in applications for visitor visas, a trend he blamed on the current economic downturn.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS