Taiwanese traveling to Uruguay can enter the country visa-free after the South American nation became the 169th area or country to grant the privilege to Republic of China passport holders.
Since Oct. 19, holders of ROC passports with more than six months of validity are allowed to enter Uruguay without a visa for tourism or business activities and for a stay of up to 90 days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release on Wednesday evening.
Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) yesterday told a news conference in Taipei that the change was due to long-term efforts by the Taipei Commercial and Cultural Office in Argentina, which is in charge of consular and diplomatic affairs in Uruguay in the absence of a representative office in the country.
Lee said he believed that Uruguay’s decision to grant visa-waiver treatment would help boost tourism, trade and people-to-people exchanges between the two nations.
“The 169 countries or areas already cover nearly 90 percent of the destinations most visited by Taiwanese, but our endeavor to increase that number will continue, because that would help people save tens of billions of dollars in visa application fees each year,” Lee said.
Taiwanese made a combined 15.6 million visits abroad last year, up from 14.5 million in 2016, Ministry of Transportation and Communications data showed.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016, the number of countries or areas that grant ROC passport holders visa-free entry, visa upon arrival, or electronic visa issuance has increased from 164 to 169.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400