The Hong Kong government is handling an application by the new representative of Taiwan's Government Information Office (GIO) for a work visa, a senior Hong Kong official said yesterday.
Stephen Lam (
As the Hong Kong government attaches great importance to trade and economic relations as well as cultural exchanges with Taiwan, Lam said, it will actively handle Ping Lu's visa application.
If Taiwan authorities also adopt a similar attitude, he said, the issue can be satisfactorily settled soon. Lam, however, didn't elaborate which kind of attitude Taiwan should show.
Ping Lu, a noted writer, was appointed head of the GIO's representative office in Hong Kong early this year. Six months have passed, but Lu still cannot take up her new job as she has yet to secure a Hong Kong work visa.
Lu managed to make a brief visit to Hong Kong over the weekend on a single entry visa to attend a cultural exchange program, which brought together literary figures from Hong Kong and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Lam said the Hong Kong government supported Lu's participation in the program in her capacity as a writer. "We believe such a program can contribute to cross-strait exchanges," he added.
Lu said after her arrival in Hong Kong Saturday that she took great pleasure in being able to make her first trip to Hong Kong since she was appointed the GIO representative to the Special Administrative Region.
She further said she was "100 percent" optimistic about the prospect of securing a work visa from the Hong Kong government in the near future. "I hope to be able to work in Hong Kong as early as possible," she said.
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