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.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
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