Taiwan and the Netherlands yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a working holiday scheme.
Speaking at a press event in Taipei yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary-General James Lee (李光章) and Dutch Representative to Taiwan Guy Wittich said they hoped that young people from the two nations would be able to form close bonds.
The MOU makes Taiwan the seventh country or territory that the Netherlands is issuing working-holiday visas to, and the third in Asia following South Korea and Hong Kong.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Netherlands is the 17th country with which Taiwan has such an arrangement, and the 12th in Europe.
Lee began pushing for a working-holiday scheme while he was representative to the Netherlands a few years ago.
Under the MOU, both countries would issue 100 working-holiday visas annually to applicants aged 18 to 30.
Under the arrangement, Taiwanese could apply for one-year visas, while Dutch nationals could apply for a 180-day visa that could be extended once for an additional 180 days.
The Dutch representative office said that it would formally announce application procedures and the date on which applications would start being accepted after both sides work out the final details.
Wittich, who first came to Taiwan 35 years ago to participate in a summer camp run by the China Youth Corps and National Chengchi University, said he hopes that through the program, young people could become ambassadors of relations between the two countries.
The relationship between the two countries has been growing stronger over the past few years, and the Netherlands has been the largest source of foreign direct investment in Taiwan every year since 2016, Wittich said, adding that it is also Taiwan’s second-largest trading partner in Europe, with annual trade exceeding NT$10 billion (US$330.4 million).
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights