Decisions by Thailand, the Philippines and Brunei to grant Taiwanese visa-free entry over the past year are the result of years of ongoing consultations, a diplomat responsible for East Asian affairs said yesterday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director Peter Lan (藍夏禮) said that Taiwan initially granted visa-free entry to the three ASEAN countries in August 2016 to promote business and tourism exchanges.
Since then, the government has been urging these nations to make the arrangement reciprocal.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
After years of negotiations, Thailand in July last year announced that it would extend visa-free entry to Taiwanese, and the Philippines and Brunei have followed suit as of June 23 and yesterday respectively, Lan said.
In addition to extensive diplomatic consultations, the ministry’s Integrated Diplomacy and Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, aimed at strengthening economic ties with allies and like-minded nations, also played a crucial role in achieving this outcome, he said.
A diplomatic source said that Taiwan’s long-term goodwill gestures, including offering visa-free treatment to the three ASEAN countries, had finally yielded positive results.
Previously, each of the three countries had reservations about reciprocating, given that China exerts significant economic and political influence over ASEAN.
The source also said that the imposition by the administration of US President Donald Trump of steep protective tariffs on nearly all goods imported into the US is prompting ASEAN countries to make adjustments in response to new geopolitical challenges.
Taking the Philippines as an example, while it is the closest ASEAN country to Taiwan, Taiwanese investment there is lower compared than in other nations such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the source said.
One major reason for this is the absence of visa-free entry, which limits the frequency of travel by Taiwanese investors to the Philippines, they said.
The launch of the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, alongside Taiwan’s interest in the Philippines’ Luzon Economic Corridor, provided additional incentives for the Philippines to reciprocate the visa treatment, they added.
The Integrated Diplomacy and Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, launched by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in May last year, aims to deepen substantive relations with the nation’s allies and like-minded countries.
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