Taiwanese travelers will need to hold an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) if they want to travel to New Zealand starting from October, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said on Tuesday.
Taiwanese would be able to apply for an ETA online for NZ$9 (US$6.16) if using a Web browser and for NZ$12 if using a mobile app, it said.
An ETA is valid for two years, the bureau said.
The requirement is to be mandatory for all sea and air travelers from 60 visa-free countries, which includes Taiwan, the bureau said.
Those transiting through New Zealand would also be required to hold an ETA, the bureau added.
According to the New Zealand immigration Web site, the ETA is a “new security and facilitation measure that will help to speed things up at the border” by making a number of improvements, including enhancing security and reducing immigration risks, addressing smuggling and biosecurity risks, and improving traveler experience.
An international visitor conservation and tourism levy would also be introduced along with the ETA, which would cost NZ$35 per person and would be valid for the duration of the ETA, New Zealand immigration authorities said.
Explaining the reason for introducing the levy, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said on its Web site that it was announced so that “international visitors will be contributing directly to the tourism infrastructure they use and helping conserve the natural environment they enjoy.”
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