Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday said he hoped that landing visa privileges for Chinese tourists to the outlying islands of Kinmen, Penghu and Matsu could be put into force soon.
Jiang, who was visiting Kinmen, was responding to an appeal from the Kinmen County Government for the government to coordinate with Beijing authorities to allow more Chinese to visit Kinmen.
“There are no legal hurdles to providing landing visas to Chinese tourists to Kinmen, Penghu and Matsu,” Jiang said.
Photo: CNA
However, he added that there could be some problems and he had asked the National Immigration Agency and the Tourism Bureau to look into the matter.
During an inspection tour around the county, Jiang the central and the local governments would work together on Kinmen’s development.
The premier said Kinmen has many distinctive features that cannot be found in Taiwan, such as historic battlegrounds and military facilities. Describing Kinmen as a valuable and clean part of Taiwan, he said people on Taiwan proper are indebted to the island county.
The government will do its best to help the local government develop the county to make it “the nation’s and even the world’s top destination for tourism,” Jiang said.
Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) said the military tourism resources in the county are unique, and he expressed hope that the Executive Yuan could help with increasing the number of flights serving Kinmen. The island attracted 1.1 million visitors last year.
Jiang later presided over a handover ceremony for the two frontline islets of Dadan (大膽) and Erdan (二膽) from the military to the Kinmen County Government.
Located just more than 4km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Dadan and Erdan were once known as “the frontline of the frontlines.”
After the handover of Dadan and Erdan, the military is expected to reduce its presence and turn over security of the islets to the Coast Guard Administration and the police.
Dadan and Erdan have areas of 0.79km2 and 0.28km2 respectively.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he