SAUDI ARABIA
Taiwanese eligible for e-visa
Taiwan is to be included in Saudi Arabia’s electronic travel authority (e-visa) program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, touting the measure as facilitating tourism between the two nations. Saudi Arabia had earlier that day announced the e-visa measure, opening its doors to tourists from 49 countries and territories. Under the new program, Republic of China passport holders can apply for a travel permit to the Islamic nation on its e-visa Web site, on which applicants must complete a form and pay a fee with a credit card, the ministry said in a statement. The online system replies via e-mail if the application is approved, the ministry said, adding that Saudi Arabia has not yet announced when the e-visa program would be introduced. The program is only intended for tourists, so those needing a business visa must apply at the Saudi Arabian Trade Office in Taipei, the ministry said.
JAPAN
Taiwanese killed in crash
A Taiwanese tourist died in a head-on crash on Thursday in Okinawa, local news station Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting reported on Friday. The crash happened at about 3pm on Thursday on National Route 58 near Onna Village, a popular tourist resort in Okinawa. A Taiwanese woman was killed and her husband, the driver, was injured, the station said. The deceased woman, Kuo Chuan-hsiu (郭娟秀), was sitting in the back seat of a rented minivan when her husband, surnamed Tang (唐), crossed the centerline when making a right turn and hit another minivan head-on, it said. Kuo, 50, sustained head injuries and was pronounced dead an hour after arriving at a hospital, while Tang incurred a minor chest injury, it said. The couple’s 10-year-old son, also a passenger in the minivan, was uninjured, it added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had contacted the family and would provide assistance.
IMMIGRATION
Vietnamese group detained
Forty-two illegal migrants from Vietnam on board a tour bus bound for Nantou were arrested in Tainan on Thursday last week, the National Immigration Agency. The arrests were made after a tip-off was received that a group of migrants were returning to the county after touring southern and southeastern Taiwan, the agency’s Tainan branch said. The group, all of whom have allegedly been residing illegally in Taiwan, had apparently booked a tour bus for a three-day, two-night trip to Taitung County and Kenting, the agency said. With the assistance of the freeway patrol, authorities identified and pulled over the tour bus at the Guanmiao Service Area on the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3), and arrested the Vietnamese, it said.
SOCIETY
Filipina wins second award
Filipina Melinda Babaran is to collect her second Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants today, after also winning last year. Babaran is to be presented with the Choice Award for a poem titled Kapirasong Papel, which she wrote in the voice of a man whose wife has been having an affair while working abroad. The inspiration came to her when she overheard a woman in her dormitory screaming on the telephone at her husband because he was having an affair while the woman was working in Taiwan, she said. Babaran works in a semiconductor factory in Taoyuan and has been in Taiwan for 12 years. This year, the judges received 680 submissions and prizes were awarded to eight winners in nine categories.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard