President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday handed out the 998th, 999th and 1,000th employment gold cards to foreign professionals in a ceremony at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
One thousand cards have been issued since the government launched the Employment Gold Card system to attract foreign professionals with outstanding achievements or unique abilities to work, invest and live in Taiwan, Tsai said.
The 998th card was given to Seamon Chan (陳希孟) from the US, who helps Taiwanese start-ups go global through investment in Taiwan, she said.
Photo: CNA
The 999th cardholder is Mustafa Ozgur Baydarol from Turkey, who holds 10 patents and is an inventor in the high-technology sector, Tsai said.
The 1,000th card was presented to American Rodney Dean Morgan, she said, adding that she hoped he would continue to take part in the development of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan.
YouTube cofounder Steve Chen (陳士駿) and many other cardholders from Silicon Valley and around the world also attended the ceremony, Tsai said.
“You are welcome to Taiwan, to work together with us,” she said.
The large number of outstanding professionals in Taiwan exemplifies the numerous opportunities available in the nation amid the restructuring of global supply chains, she said.
Noting that Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, its rich and diverse culture, and safe environment are suitable for investment, Tsai said she believed that with the assistance of international professionals, the nation’s businesses would become more global, and develop a broader vision and strong international competitiveness.
The Taiwan Employment Gold Card system is part of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法), which was implemented in February 2018, to attract highly skilled foreign talent.
The act relaxes regulations on visas, work permits, taxes, insurance, pensions and residency for foreign professionals and their families.
The employment gold card is simultaneously a work permit, residence visa, Alien Resident Certificate and re-entry permit.
The US Department of State yesterday criticized Beijing over its misrepresentation of the US’ “one China” policy in the latest diplomatic salvo between the two countries over a bid by Taiwan to regain its observer status at the World Health Assembly, the decisionmaking body of the WHO. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to publicly misrepresent U.S. policy,” Department of State spokesman Ned Price wrote on Twitter. “The United States does not subscribe to the PRC’s ‘one China principle’ — we remain committed to our longstanding, bipartisan one China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, Three Joint Communiques, and
FATES LINKED: The US president said that sanctions on Russia over Ukraine must exact a ‘long-term price,’ because otherwise ‘what signal does that send to China?’ US President Joe Biden yesterday vowed that US forces would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack in his strongest statement to date on the issue. Beijing is already “flirting with danger,” Biden said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, in which the pair agreed to monitor Chinese naval activity and joint Chinese-Russian exercises. Asked if Washington was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, he replied: “Yes.” “That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said. “We agreed with the ‘one China’ policy, we signed on to it ... but the idea that it can be
SUBTLE? While Biden said the US policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ on Taiwan had not changed, the group targeted China and Russia without naming them Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US yesterday warned against attempts to “change the status quo by force,” as concerns grow about whether China could invade Taiwan. The issue of Taiwan loomed over a leadership meeting in Tokyo of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) nations — the US, Japan, Australia and India — who stressed their determination to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of an increasingly assertive China, although Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was not targeting any one country. The four leaders said in a joint statement issued after their talks
Nearly half of Taiwanese believe President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has not done enough to prepare the nation against Chinese aggression, the a poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. Asked whether the Tsai administration’s military and non-military preparations to defend Taiwan are adequate, 30.6 percent said they were “mostly inadequate” and 18.9 percent said they “very inadequate,” while 25.7 percent said they were “mostly adequate” and 7.1 percent said they were “very adequate.” Another 17.6 percent had no opinion or did not know enough to form a judgement. Still, 51 percent of respondents approved of Tsai’s national defense policy,