The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday it was still working on persuading Canada to give Taiwanese passport holders visa-free treatment and expressed the hope that the deal would be sealed by the end of the year.
“The Canadian immigration agency supports the idea, but a consensus must be reached among relevant government agencies, and we are still working on it,” Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs, said at its regular press briefing.
“We very much hope that Taiwanese citizens can be granted visa-free entry privileges by the end of the year,” he said.
However, while positive progress is being made in bilateral talks, some difficulties remain, Tseng said.
He declined to comment on what issue still needed to be ironed out.
A local daily newspaper reported yesterday that Taipei and Ottawa were originally scheduled to announce the visa-free treatment this week, but the plan was put on hold after Canada requested at the last minute that Taiwan fully open its market to Canadian beef.
The report said Taipei found the condition unacceptable and ordered David Lee (李大維), Taiwan’s representative to Ottawa, to discuss the issue with Canadian government officials.
The Canadian Trade Office in Taiwan told the Central News Agency that it had no comment on the report, saying only that both sides were still negotiating the visa-free entry issue.
At present, Canada can only export to Taiwan boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age, produced from certified slaughterhouses and without high-risk items such as brains and spinal cord marrow, based on the existing regulations of the Department of Health.
The donation of offshore patrol vessel Kinmen to the Philippines includes provisions that protect Taiwanese fishers and facilitate security cooperation across the First Island Chain, officials said yesterday. The comment was made during the Cabinet’s comprehensive administrative report at the legislature after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) expressed concerns about the decision to give a ship to a country whose coast guard had in 2013 fired on a Taiwanese trawler and killed its captain without provocation. The Cabinet should lay out the safeguards that have been established to prevent the Philippine government from using the Kinmen to harass, expel
GROWING TIES: The CGA is planning a goodwill mission to the Philippines, in what would be the first time since 1975 a Taiwanese paramilitary vessel has visited the country The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) plans to significantly expand its participation in international security cooperative frameworks and its operational capabilities, a budget proposal for next year showed. The budget indicates a transformation of the CGA from a maritime law enforcement arm into a national defense and intelligence gathering entity capable of tackling larger regional security matters. The proposal showed that personnel from the coast guard’s Intelligence Division and Special Action Support Center are to participate in high-level national security talks with the US. As the CGA has dealt with China’s rising “gray zone” threats around Taiwan, it has become a valuable asset to
The National Police Agency’s Third Special Police Corps yesterday said that from May to July, it intercepted five smuggling operations from China, seizing more than 70,000 counterfeit Beyblades with an estimated infringement value of NT$34.45 million (US$1.08 million). It added that any bootleg unit that reached the local market could present hidden health hazards to players. Beyblades, a line of spinning toy tops used in competitive gaming and developed in Japan by toy company Takara Tomy, have become popular in Taiwan, making them a target for fraudsters. The Third Special Police Corps, dedicated to safeguarding maritime borders and trade lines,
Five customers who made purchases at 7-Eleven stores across Taiwan won the top NT$10 million (US$313,716) special prize in the July-August uniform invoice lottery, including one who spent just NT$27 on photocopying, the convenience store chain said today. The five special prize winners made their purchases at stores in Taoyuan, Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, 7-Eleven operator President Chain Store Corp said. The five winning purchases included NT$29 spent on snacks at a store in Taoyuan's Zhongli District (中壢), NT$27 on photocopying at a store in Taipei's Zhongzheng District (中正), NT$139 on City Cafe coffee and daily necessities at a store in Taipei's
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