A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official set to be posted to Taiwan’s representative office in Macau was unable to obtain a visa from the Macau government after refusing to sign an affidavit recognizing Beijing’s “one China” principle, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.
The previous ministry official stationed in the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Macau returned to Taiwan on Tuesday last week after being posted there for more than 10 years, MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said on Thursday.
However, another ministry official set to fill the vacant post was unable to obtain a visa “as the Macau government continues to unilaterally impose a political condition for visa applications,” he said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The government of the Chinese special administrative region required the new appointment to sign an affidavit adhering to Beijing’s “one China” principle that “our side cannot agree to,” Liang said, adding that it resulted in the ministry official being unable to take up the post in Macau.
Since 2019, the Macau government has required Taiwanese officials at TECO-Macau, which is administered by the MAC, to sign affidavits recognizing Beijing’s “one China” principle to be issued with new visas.
Taiwanese staffers posted to Macau before the implementation of the measure have been able to stay in the territory by extending their original visas.
It was not feasible to request that the recently returned ministry official remain in Macau, Liang said, adding that the Macau government should “not impose unnecessary obstacles” to new appointments taking up their posts.
If the Macau government continues to insist on such requirements for Taiwanese officials, we would “prepare for the worst” Liang said, without specifying what actions would be taken.
He also said that it would undoubtedly affect civil exchanges between Taiwan and Macau and damage the city’s international image.
Liang said that the former official’s past duties included assisting with matters related to passports, entry and exit certificates, and visas.
Those services would now be handled through online appointments and remote monitoring, causing significant inconvenience, he added.
Information provided by the MAC showed that TECO-Macau is staffed by eight Taiwanese officials, from government agencies, such as the ministry, the MAC and the National Immigration Agency.
After the departure of the ministry official, only two Taiwanese officials, both MAC staff members who have been posted in the Chinese city for about eight years remain, along with 14 local Macau employees.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS