Taiwanese group lauds visa waiver

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s move to waive visas for Taiwanese can attract more tourists, said Taipei Investors Association in Malaysia (TIAM) honorary president Datuk Dr Ting Chung Cheng. “I believe the move is very favourable to our cooperation, especially in economy, trade and tourism,” said the Taiwanese.

Dr Ting added that the trade value between the two countries was RM14bil last year, while tourist arrivals from Taiwan were more than 210,000. “Such figures show that Malaysia is one of Taiwan’s important trading partners and we are thankful to the Malaysian government for the new measure,” he said.

On Friday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Timothy Yang Chin-Tien announced that Malaysia had agreed to give visa-free travel with immediate effect to the Republic. Those who hold a Republic of China (ROC) passport, valid for at least six months with a return or onward airline ticket, will be able to stay in Malaysia for up to 15 days without a visa. Malaysia had offered visa-on-arrival (VOA) to Taiwanese citizens since 2009.

However, the country stopped issuing all landing visas across the board in August last year to curb problems of illegal immigrants from China, India and Bangladesh. Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen recently said the granting of visa-free status would have very positive impact on tourism arrivals. She said the decision to grant visa-free entry for Taiwanese was a reflection of the Government’s trust in frequent travellers from Taiwan. Dr Ng added that the visa exemption took effect from March 14 and was only for Taiwanese businessmen and tourists.
-thestar online.