The Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations has produced a brochure to promote the New Southbound Policy, according to Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who heads the office.
The 18-page bilingual booklet — in Chinese and English — was designed to give foreign governments a better understanding of the policy, and it has been distributed to foreign missions in Taiwan, including representative offices of those nations targeted by the policy, Deng said.
The policy, which calls for the development of comprehensive relations with ASEAN members, South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand, while promoting regional exchanges and collaboration, is a priority for the government.
The policy lays out five flagship projects that span innovative industries; medical cooperation and industrial supply chains; policy forums and youth exchange platforms; regional agriculture and talent cultivation, and three potential-laden fields — e-commerce, infrastructure and tourism.
The government is looking to attract more visitors from the target countries by boosting the quality of related products and services, and expanding visa privileges, Deng said.
The number of tourists from nations under the government’s New Southbound Policy who visited Taiwan last year reached 1.789 million, accounting for 17 percent of the total.
The government aims to attract 2.5 million tourists from the 18 countries targeted by the policy by 2020, according to the brochure.
The government relaxed visa rules for individuals from ASEAN and India as of Aug. 1 last year and included the Philippines in the nation’s e-visa program on Oct. 7 last year.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
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