The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged the public to put off travel to Cuba, after a Taiwanese man said he and his family were denied entry into the Caribbean country due to the “strained relationship” between Taiwan and China.
Danny Yen, a Taiwanese expatriate in Canada, on Sunday said that he and four family members, who all live in Montreal, traveled to Havana on their Republic of China (ROC) passports for a nine-day trip to Cuba.
However, only his wife and one of his children were allowed to enter the country, while he and two other family members were denied entry, Yen said.
Photo: Reuters
Asked for a reason, Cuban immigration officials told him that their country adheres to Beijing’s “one China” principle, which considers Taiwan to be a part of the People’s Republic of China and thus does not recognize the ROC passport, Yen said.
As he has Taiwanese friends who traveled to Cuba in May and July, he asked the officials what had changed.
“This is our new policy, because Taiwan and China now have a strained relationship,” Yen said the officials told him.
His family waited more than 10 hours at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport for a return flight to Canada, he said.
They arrived in Montreal on Sunday morning.
The foreign ministry said that ROC passport holders can travel to Cuba visa-free for up to 180 days as long they also have a Cuba Tourist Card, a travel permit available at travel agencies outside Taiwan.
Ministry deputy spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said that after hearing of Yen’s case, the ministry double-checked whether the Cuban government had announced any new regulations that would prevent ROC passport holders from entering the country visa-free.
It has found no information to suggest anything has changed, Hsiao said.
As Taiwan does not have a representative office in Cuba, it is difficult for ministry officials to contact Cuban authorities directly, he said.
The ministry is asking its representative office in Colombia, which handles Cuban affairs, to find out whether the reported entry refusal was an isolated incident or reflective of a new policy, he said.
Meanwhile, the ministry has called on Taiwanese to postpone travel to Cuba and to check with their airline for any information on the admission eligibility of ROC passport holders.
It also issued an orange travel alert for Cuba, the second-highest on its four-tiered travel advisory scale regarding safety and security in foreign countries, which indicates unnecessary travel should be avoided.
The lowest level, gray, signifies caution should be exercised, yellow suggests travel should be reconsidered, orange indicates unnecessary travel should be avoided and red warns ROC nationals not to travel to a destination.
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