The Thai government yesterday made a last-minute U-turn and issued a visa to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who was initially forced to cancel the Thailand leg of a scheduled trip to Southeast Asia because of difficulties in securing a visa.
The KMT said it was informed at about 4:30pm that Thailand was willing to issue a visa to Wu, shortly after it had issued a statement saying that Wu’s week-long trip to the Philippines and Thailand would be shortened by two days due to unexplained delays in receiving a visa for the former vice president.
As Wu has now obtained a visa, he will follow his original itinerary, departing today and returning on Saturday next week, the KMT said, adding that the trip is part of its celebrations for the 123rd anniversary of the founding of the party’s earliest predecessor, the Society for Regenerating China (興中會).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wu nearly suffered the same fate as former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who in July had to cancel a trip to Thailand after she failed to receive a visa before her scheduled departure.
Hung at the time accused the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei of deliberately delaying her application and questioned the efficacy of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) oft-trumpeted New Southbound Policy.
Earlier yesterday, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) said the party applied for a visa to Thailand on Wu’s behalf two weeks ago with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but had not heard back from the office, which serves as Bangkok’s de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.
Wu decided to move the anniversary celebration to the two Southeast Asian countries because they are home to the most Taiwanese expatriates, Lee said.
Wu intends to visit only Taiwanese expatriates in Thailand and has no plans to meet with Thai officials, he added.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand earlier yesterday said that since Wu’s visa application was submitted, it had actively engaged the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the matter, met with the KMT’s contacts in Bangkok and regularly updated concerned parties in Taiwan and Thailand about the issue.
The Thailand Trade and Economic Office yesterday declined to comment.
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