More countries and territories are interested in forming “travel bubbles” with Taiwan, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
Earlier this year, then-minister of transportation and communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee that, in addition to Palau, the nation was negotiating “travel bubble” agreements with the governments of Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore.
Yesterday, bureau Director-General Chang Hsi-chung (張錫聰) told reporters on the sidelines of a committee meeting that more nations are seeking to ink “travel bubble” agreements with Taiwan.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
Some of them have submitted proposals through diplomatic channels, while others have consulted the bureau, he said.
The bureau said that this week, its officials met with representatives of France, Guam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, the Philippines, Spain and Thailand, as well as the Africa Taiwan Economic Forum and Hachinohe in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture.
Guam, Hawaii, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have been enthusiastic about establishing a travel corridor with Taiwan, Chang said.
“However, they know that the key is to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks, and a ‘travel bubble’ agreement has a greater chance of succeeding when both sides have assessed the risks and trust one another,” he added.
Asked about the low number of people interested in traveling to Palau, Chang said that the tours are still in the initial stage.
“We have long weekends at the end of this month and next month. More people are likely to book tours over the summer,” he said.
Foreigners with Alien Resident Certificates or Alien Permanent Resident Certificates can also book the Palau tours, the bureau said.
Regarding a “travel bubble” agreement with Singapore, Singapore Airlines general manager in Taiwan Chua Kian-hwa (蔡建華) told reporters that the airline is waiting for further instructions from the Singaporean and Taiwanese governments.
Tourists to Singapore are not required to quarantine if they test negative upon arrival, he said, adding that tourists receive the test results within a day.
Starting this month, the airline would resume three flights per week between Taipei and Singapore, he said.
“Together with the daily Scoot flights, there will be 10 flights per week between the two countries,” Chua added.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
RSS