The Ministry of Education yesterday said that Taiwanese students’ US visa applications are continuing as usual, after Politico reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering requiring all international students to undergo social media vetting.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered US embassies to “pause scheduling new interviews for such student visa applicants,” Politico reported.
“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued,” the order said, according to Politico.
Photo: Wang Yi-song, Taipei Times
Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) yesterday at the Legislative Yuan said that the ministry’s overseas branches were in contact with Taiwanese students studying at Harvard University.
The ministry is also in talks with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to ensure that Taiwanese students’ rights to study are not infringed, Cheng said.
The Department of Higher Education is working with National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University to offer students a smooth transfer to domestic universities, he added.
Department of Higher Education Director-General Liao Kao-hsien (廖高賢) said the department has received phone calls from Harvard students, but they did not mention being asked to leave the university.
Domestic universities have expressed a willingness to accept students in the US, Liao said.
Department of International and Cross-strait Education Director-General Lee Yu-jiuan (李毓娟) said the US Department of State’s Web site does not carry any information about a general halt on student visas.
Lee also said that her department had reached out to the AIT and confirmed that it had not received an order from the US Department of State to suspend student visa processing, and that all scheduled visa interviews were continuing as planned.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
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South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
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