Taiwan’s representative office in Hong Kong, which since 1966 has been known as the Chung Hwa Travel Service, has been formally renamed to reflect its true status and functions.
The office threw open its doors as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong yesterday.
The new designation is the same as that of Taiwan’s representative offices in countries with which Taiwan maintains no formal diplomatic ties, said Jeff Yang (楊家駿), director--general of the office.
Yang said the liaison office’s administrative efficiency is expected to improve after the redesignation, because its former name was misleading.
After the new appellation, both the office’s status and functions will be upgraded and the office will be able to directly contact relevant Hong Kong governmental departments. Although the Hong Kong office was formally opened yesterday, there will be a christening ceremony in the near future when the office’s designation tablet arrives from Taipei, Yang said.
However, Yang declined to confirm whether Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) would travel to Hong Kong to officiate at the opening ceremony. The MAC is the immediate supervisory agency over the Hong Kong office.
Meanwhile, Yang said the governments of the two sides were still discussing the issue of Hong Kong granting visa-free treatment to Taiwanese visitors.
A Hong Kong official said earlier this month that the Hong Kong government’s official representative office in Taiwan would be inaugurated later this year, ushering in a new era in Taiwan-Hong Kong relations.
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