US Senator Rick Scott arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon for a two-day visit.
Scott, who serves on the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, is the seventh US senator to visit Taiwan this year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the Republican senator from Florida was greeted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光).
Photo: REUTERS
Scott is scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) during his visit, the ministry said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was to host a banquet to welcome him.
Scott would also have a videoconference with Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), who is also deputy trade representative of the Office of Trade Negotiation, the ministry said.
The American Institute in Taiwan said that Scott’s visit was “part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.”
“The senator will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, and other significant issues of mutual interest,” the institute said.
Scott, who served as Florida governor from 2011 to 2019, has proposed several Taiwan-friendly bills in the senate, including the draft Taiwan invasion prevention act and the draft deterring communist Chinese aggression against Taiwan through financial sanctions act, the ministry said.
The senator in May cosigned a letter penned by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, calling on US President Joe Biden to include Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, it said, adding that he has been supporter of a bilateral trade agreement between Taiwan and the US.
Scott visited the Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania in April, becoming the first US senator to visit it, the ministry said.
In the same month, US senators Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, Richard Burr, Ben Sasse and Rob Portman, as well as US Representative Ronny Jackson, visited Taiwan and met with national security officials.
Another delegation led by US Senator Tammy Duckworth visited Taiwan in late May.
Taiwan from Thursday is to reinstate visa exemptions for passport holders from 65 countries. Mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers is to be lifted on Oct. 13 , when restrictions on inbound and outbound tour groups are also to be lifted. The following is a list of answers to common questions regarding how the new regulations are to affect inbound international visitors Which passports will have visa-free entry privileges? Eleven more countries on Thursday are to join 54 countries that were given visa-free privileges on Sept. 12. Passport holders from Japan, South Korea, Chile, Israel and Nicaragua can stay in Taiwan for up to 90 days without a visa. Taiwan is also to resume 30-day visa-free stays for citizens of the Dominican Republic, Singapore and Malaysia. Passport holders from Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines are to be allowed to stay in Taiwan for 14 days visa-free. Taiwan on Sept. 12 resumed 90-day visa-free entry for passport holders from the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New
PRIDE AND FURY: Supporters of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party sang in Tainan, while Taiwan loyalists in Kaohsiung vowed to ‘protect Taiwan until death’ Two small Taiwanese groups at the far ends of the debate over relations with Beijing marked the National Day of the People’s Republic of China yesterday with flag raisings and flag burnings — opposite responses at a time of rising tension over the Taiwan Strait. Oct. 1 marks the day that Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with the defeated Republic of China government fleeing to Taiwan at the end of that year, where — after democratic reforms — it remains to this day, neither recognizing the other. China’s national day is not officially marked in any
VOICING SUPPORT: The German ambassador to the US said that the country should not allow China to move goalposts to isolate Taiwan or break international law Relations with Germany continue to warm as German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch, leading a six-person delegation, left Germany for a six-day visit to Taiwan yesterday. The visit is yet another move by Berlin this year in support of Taiwan. The German Bundestag in May unanimously passed a resolution to support Taiwan’s bid to participate in the WHO as an observer. German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach added his support for Taiwan’s participation at the World Health Assembly this year. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock in August voiced support for Taiwan in light of Beijing’s military response to US
A scooter owner is under investigation for using a sticker bearing the words “Tainan City Government Police Bureau Patrol Vehicle” on his scooter. Tainan Police Department’s Yongkang Precinct said in a press release on Thursday that it received a report about a photograph of a food delivery scooter with the sticker being shared on social media. Police launched an investigation and spotted the electric scooter on Chungcheng Road in the city’s Yongkang District (永康). The scooter owner, surnamed Kao (高), said he had bought the sticker online and put it on his scooter because he thought it was fun and special, police
RSS