The National Immigration Agency yesterday defended its decision to ban Chinese journalist Wang Zhian (王志安) from entering Taiwan for five years after he made an unauthorized appearance on an online talk show in January.
Wang, a former China Central Television investigative reporter blacklisted by Beijing over allegations of corruption, wrote on X on Wednesday that he had received notice of the decision and intended to file a lawsuit.
“Going forward, we are to formally indict ... the Republic of China National Immigration Agency,” he said.
Photo: Screengrab from YouTube
In response, the agency said it pulled Wang’s tourist visa after being presented with clear evidence that he had accepted an interview on a Taiwanese talk show, which breaches his visa’s conditions.
Officials duly referred Wang’s appeal to the Executive Yuan, which agreed with the agency’s ruling that the interview breached his stated reason for his visit to Taiwan and did not qualify as tourism, it said.
Chinese nationals are permitted to make guest appearances on Taiwanese television on condition that they possess a visitor’s visa for business purposes, the agency said.
The Executive Yuan rejected Wang’s claim that he was banned from entering Taiwan for exercising free speech, it said.
Wang on Jan. 22 appeared on the online talk show The Night Night Show with Hello (賀瓏夜夜秀), in which he disparaged Taiwanese elections and mimicked a disabled person, in an apparent reference to Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Chun-han (陳俊翰), who has spinal muscular atrophy.
The Chinese reporter’s comments were perceived as discriminatory to people with disabilities and disrespectful to democracy, sparking an outcry on social media.
Three days after the incident, he was banned from visiting Taiwan for five years.
Wang panned the agency’s decision, calling it “a “politically motivated ruling in retribution for my speech.”
“I want to see if the Republic of China’s legal system can transcend political factions to provide relief to the people in the mainland area and have a taste of ... [Taiwanese] legal activities,” he added.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
RSS