I think they take this reciprocity thing way too far here. Nothing here is based off of facts, it’s only done if you are doing it too. The only thing that isn’t reciprocal is the multiple citizenship rules and we all know how that works.
Do Taiwanese people just hate money? Why not just leave it open and take the tourist dollars that come with it. They obviously don’t want Taiwanese money, so…more for Taiwan?
How is this even in Taiwan’s favour? They’re cutting off potential tourist dollars and goodwill with average people for no reason.
I swear, this as well as some of the business practises I see here convince me that Taiwanese simply hate money because It’s the only thing that makes any sense.
I was referring to the citizen issue. So many elite have no issue with the hypocritical stance of having two passports while denying foreigners the same rights
Interestingly, teh same thing happened to Costa Ricans. Let me explain.
As soon as the check from China was cashed, the CR government started making the lives of Taiwanese residents a bit harder. Now, many Taiwanese had a CR passport but obviously not all. Others were tourists and students. So many came back to Taiwan or they migrated to greener pastures, affecting Taiwanese investments, obviously.
So the CR government had to be flexible and allowed Taiwanese in with US visa, no need to go through the hassle of getting a CR visa. Couple years later, CR decides that they can be lenient and give back visa free privilege to Taiwanese. That was in 2016. To this day, Taiwan has not reciprocated and any Costa Rican who wants to come to The Island must get a visa.
Here is the story:
I am curious about what happened to Panamenians. That would be an interesting case, as there are so many investments there.
The issue is that most of those are not tourists per se. They are mostly business people on marketing trips. So the loss is bigger in potential exports, not just someone staying at a beach hotel.
Compare to the situation in Mexico. The Taiwanese must get a special visa if they want to make business. It is a bit intricate. they can say they are tourists but if they go and participate in expos or something… could be trouble. Better safe.
No, it doesn’t. However, I understand why they feel they need to do something. They can’t keep bending and taking it from developing countries who are taking the piss (and, they’ll find out in time, having the piss taken out of them by China).
Hopefully they can backtrack on the whole China thing, but not holding my breath on that one.
In related news, Panama changed the name and logo of the school that Taiwan had built and donated them. Now insteadof Republic of China (Taiwan) and the ol blue and white star, they have School of China and the PRC´s flag instead.
