Taipei and Tokyo have agreed to grant entry to each other’s business travelers, marking Taiwan’s first air corridor with another nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwan on June 22 started allowing business travelers from designated nations to enter under certain conditions, including providing a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result obtained within three days of boarding their flight.
The government at the time listed Japan as a medium-risk country, meaning people arriving from Japan could apply for a shorter quarantine period.
Photo: CNA
Since Japan was removed from the list on Aug. 5 when its COVID-19 cases spiked, arrivals from Japan have been required to undergo 14 days of isolation, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
The Japanese government yesterday agreed to reopen its borders to business travelers from Taiwan, after bilateral negotiations started on July 22, the ministry said, referring the public to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s Web site for details.
Japan’s new policy is to take effect from Tuesday next week, when it would start a “residence track” for business travelers from Taiwan, the association announced on its Web site.
Photo: Reuters
To apply for a visa, Taiwanese businesspeople need to present a job employment certificate or work invitation to the association, the ministry said.
They would need a negative PCR test result obtained within three days of boarding their flight and would be required to take another test upon arriving in Japan, where they would also undergo 14 days of isolation at home or a designated facility, it added.
As strong partners and close friends, Taiwan and Japan have supported each other in the wake of many natural disasters, and collaborated to evacuate citizens stranded in other countries due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, it said.
The two nations hope to continue to boost economic ties and work together to combat the pandemic, it said.
Japan’s new policy also applies to travelers from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, after it first eased restrictions for those from Thailand and Vietnam, Kyodo News reported yesterday.
Japan denies entry to foreign nationals who have recently been to any of 159 countries and regions, including the US, China and all of Europe, it reported.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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