An increase of 300,000 passport applications is expected next year, boosting its predicted total to about 2.2 million, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) Bureau of Consular Affairs said.
In 2019, the nation’s total amount of passports issued came to 1.74 million, it said, adding that once the COVID-19 pandemic began to ravage many countries, the figure had dwindled to 316,000 in 2020, further diminishing to 233,000 in 2021.
It is expected to reach 2.196 million next year, the bureau’s proposed budget for 2024 showed, which included 1.63 million for passports with a 10-year validation period, 408,000 passports with a five-year validation period, and an expedited service for fast-track issues at 156,000.
Photo: Taipei Times
This would represent a rise of 303,500 for next year, as the bureau estimated a total of 1.892 million passports would be issued by the end of this year. The bureau’s proposed budget for next year stands at NT$2.629 billion (US$82.34 million), which is an increase of NT$351.2 million compared to this year.
Meanwhile, when reviewing the bureau’s budget report, legislators said that the nation’s 14-day stay for visitors without a visa had been offered to holders from Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines for several years.
However, these countries are still not offering reciprocal terms for Taiwanese citizens.
In response, MOFA officials said it remains an important task for the nation’s overseas consular offices in seeking the host country to grant for visa-free visits, electronic visa applications, or improved terms for Taiwanese citizens.
“Our government has made an official request to Thailand to grant our citizens visa-free visits for tourism, which is currently under deliberation by the Thai government,” a MOFA spokesperson said, adding that ongoing efforts are still underway with the Brunei government, for tourism visa waivers.
It said it has earlier initiated a visa-free program with the Philippines, which should result in boosting their visiting trips to Taiwan.
However, our side continues to negotiate with them on this issue, it said.
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Taipei Department of Transportation discouraged YouBike 2.0E users from taking them on long-distance trips after a Taipei city councilor said that riders often use the new electric bike, YouBike 2.0E, to climb Yangmingshan (陽明山). Taipei earlier this year began offering the first 30 minutes of YouBike 2.0 rentals for free, with Taipei and New Taipei offering the YouBike 2.0E on Aug. 30 to encourage rider usage. For YouBike 2.0, the rate is NT$10 per 30 minutes within the first four hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes for five to eight hours and NT$40 per 30 minutes after eight hours. Meanwhile, for e-bikes,
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山). The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said. “While Taiwan has up to 30 gigawatts of potential deep geothermal energy, with an estimated 10 gigawatts being economically viable, only by digging wells can we determine the actual amount of commercially viable geothermal energy,” Liao said at the project’s opening ceremony. Data collected during and after the excavation process would be used for future
HACKERS’ MARKET: Chat logs about Taiwan and documents outlining ways to take over online accounts were leaked from a company that sells data from hacks Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists found 577 leaked documents which show that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, a documentary released last month by Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. The filmmakers behind Tracking China’s Leaked Documents said they spent six months visiting seven countries, including Taiwan, where they interviewed members of TeamT5, a malware research and cybersecurity firm, which found the leaked documents. TeamT5 said they discovered a string of mysterious URLs on the social media platform X, which they suspected could be accounts created by hackers or people who leaked data, which led