CUSTOMS
Permit changes for Chinese
Starting next year, Chinese visitors will no longer be required to apply for a permit to visit Taiwan’s major outlying islands, the Mainland Affairs Council said. Instead, they can obtain a permit on arrival in Kinmen and Matsu, a change that is aimed at promoting tourism and business activities in these areas, the council said. The permit-on-arrival regulation, which is to take effect on Jan. 1 on those two islands, has been in place in the Penghu islands since July 2010. However, Chinese visitors who intend to proceed to Taiwan proper will still need to apply for a landing permit before traveling to any of the islands, the council said. The announcement came after a visit on Saturday by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to Kinmen, where he said the measure could help attract more visitors and investment to the islands.
TOURISM
New east coast road planned
The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) yesterday said it has been working with tourism authorities to turn the picturesque eastern coastline’s Suhua Highway (No. 9) into a “world-class attraction,” once a road improvement project is completed. Upon completion in 2017, three new road sections will replace the accident-prone narrow coastal road that links the counties of Yilan and Hualien, according to bureau information. The sections will cover areas from Suao Township (蘇澳) to Dongao (東澳) in Yilan; from Nanao Township (南澳) in Yilan to Heping in Hualien; and from Heping to Chongde (崇德) in Hualien; a total of 38.8km. The old parts of the road — which are prone to mudslides and other natural disasters — would then be open only to bikes and small vehicles that travel at speeds of less than 30km per hour, DGH Director Chao Hsin-hua (趙興華) said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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