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Taiwan mulling ‘retaliatory response’ against travel ban issued by PH

The Taiwanese government is mulling to hold a “response” against the Philippines over its decision to impose a travel ban together with China, Macau and Hong Kong, according to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).
In an interview of Angelito Banayo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MECO, on DZBB, he said that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called for a special cabinet meeting to discuss what he termed as a possible “calibrated response measures” towards the Philippines’ travel ban to Taiwan.
Banayo said one possible counter response of Taiwan is to take back its visa-free entry for Filipinos.
On its website, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines said, “[We] express our grave concern about the travel ban, in which Taiwan was wrongly included, issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on February 10, 2020.”
“No other countries in Asia, except the Philippines, have issued travel ban on Taiwan,” the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines said in a statement.
“We urge the Philippine government to immediately correct its decision on Taiwan and remove Taiwan from the travel ban,” it added.
Taiwan said the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign and independent state; it issues its own passport and visas and has exclusive jurisdiction over its people and territory.
The country said it has taken all measures needed to contain the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), formerly called 2019-nCoV.
On Monday, the Philippines expanded the travel ban to Taiwan under the so-called “one China” policy. Beijing sees Taiwan as its own territory.

Staff Report

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