Taiwan will maintain visa-free privileges for Malaysian visitors even though Kuala Lumpur has decided to stop issuing landing visas for citizens of all countries, including Taiwan, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
The new measure will come into effect on Sunday.
Baushuan Ger (葛葆宣), deputy director-general of MOFA’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Malaysia’s decision is part of its efforts to grapple with the increasingly serious problem of those overstaying visitors, particularly visitors from China, India and Bangladesh who have been abusing the system by working illegally in the country.
There are a substantial number of illegal immigrants in Malaysia, as many as 2 million by some estimates.
Taiwan has been granting visa-free treatment to Malaysian passport holders since 2002.
Although Malaysia has been offering landing visa privileges to Republic of China citizens since last year, Ger said few Taiwanese visitors opt for landing visas because of the MYR$330 (US$104) fee, much higher than the NT$240 visitors pay if they apply for a visa beforehand in Taiwan.
He said that Taiwanese authorities have asked their Malaysian counterparts not to erroneously put Taiwan on the list of countries whose citizens have been abusing the landing-visa program.
Ger added the ministry will continue to hold talks with Malaysian authorities to push for visa-free privileges for Taiwanese visitors.
According to Ger, the number of Taiwanese tourists travelling to Malaysia stands at 200,000 a year, on average.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER AND CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai