The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is considering relaxing residency rules for Hong Kongers employed at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Hong Kong, hoping to allay employees’ fears of Chinese oppression, sources said yesterday.
The Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) states that after six years of employment, local staffers at the Hong Kong and Macau offices, as well as their parents, in-laws, spouses and children under 18, enjoy the same rights as Taiwanese for entry, residency and employment in Taiwan.
While the act requires applicants to live in Taiwan as temporary residents while waiting to be granted permanent residency, the government is considering ways to offer assistance to Hong Kongers employed by its office in the event they are forced to depart for Taiwan, sources said.
Relaxation of the residency application regulations for Hong Kongers employed by the office would give them some comfort and safety, the sources added.
The Hong Kong government has refused to answer the office’s queries on how the safety of Taiwan’s Hong Kong office, and its Taiwanese and Hong Kong employees, would be guaranteed, they said.
While the Hong Kong government has not made the Hong Kong employees’ lives difficult, it is understandable that the employees would be worried about how the territory’s National Security Law might affect them, sources said.
Since Beijing imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong last year, seven Taiwanese officials at the Hong Kong office have been forced to return to Taiwan after they did not sign a pledge to observe the “one China” policy.
After the law was passed, the Hong Kong government made the pledge part of the renewal application for work visas.
The office’s Economy Division Director Ni Po-chia (倪伯嘉) is the sole remaining Taiwanese official at the Hong Kong office, but his visa is due to expire at the end of this month.
The 50 local Hong Kong staffers are to continue to provide service after Ni’s departure, while all policies regarding sovereignty would be handled from Taiwan.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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