Two more countries agreed to grant travel facilitation measures for Taiwanese, bringing the number of countries where holders of a Republic of China (ROC) passport can enjoy visa-free travel or visa-on-arrival privileges to 99, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced yesterday.
Holders of ROC passports will soon be allowed to enter Australia with electronic visas and to Montenegro without a visa, Ma said at the opening ceremony of an exhibition of ROC diplomatic archives held to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Although the implementation has yet to be decided, related negotiations have been completed. The goal for Taiwan to be included in 100 countries and areas granting us visa-free privileges in this year will soon be achieved,” Ma said.
The ministry dates back to the Zongli Geguo Shiwu Yamen, literally meaning Office in Charge of Affairs of All Nations, which was the name of the government office of imperial China during the Qing Dynasty.
In his speech, Ma recognized the ministry’s efforts to resolve the diplomatic dispute with the Philippines over its deportation of 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China on Feb. 2.
“The two sides have reached an agreement. We received a -formal letter from the Philippines saying it would take punitive actions against officials involved in wrongdoing. They demonstrated concrete actions and we received their sincere apology,” Ma sad.
Ma said the relationships between Taiwan and the Philippines was not damaged because of the deportation case, but was mended and even enhanced because the two sides have agreed to negotiate a deal on mutual judicial assistance and explore the feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement.
The way the government handled the case showcased the possibility that the country can enhance its international space under the principle of “flexible diplomacy,” Ma said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching