Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Chinese Culture Festival (CCF) 2025, organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), will stage Henan Yuediao opera, a regional operatic genre rarely seen by Hong Kong audiences, for the first time in late June. Shen Xiaomei, currently the leading exponent of the Yuediao opera, will lead a group of outstanding artists from the Henan Provincial Yue Diao Art Protection and Inheritance Center to Hong Kong to perform the classic plays “Jiang Wei Surrenders” and “Li Tianbao Gets Married”, showcasing the unique and traditional artistic charm of Yuediao opera with the best line-up of the troupe. This programme is also one of the 13th Chinese Opera Festival (COF) and the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month 2025 events.

     Henan Yuediao is one of the three major Chinese opera genres in Henan Province. With a history of more than 300 years, it was inscribed onto the First National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006. Known for its distinctive vocal styles and intricate musicality, Yuediao opera is celebrated for possessing the rich artistic charm of “nine vocal tones, 18 variations, and 72 ending utterances”. The Shen School of Henan Yuediao has gained acclaim for its “Three Kingdoms” repertory, and Shen Fengmei, the founder of the Shen School, was famous for her unique portrayal of Zhuge Liang in female “xusheng” (bearded male) roles. —————————————————–
Date and time: June 27 (Friday), 7.30pm———————————————————
Date and time: June 28 (Saturday), 7.30pm

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

Notice of website maintenance

Date：2025-05-16
Data Source：Public Diplomacy Coordination Council

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website (www.mofa.gov.tw) and its subdomains, including the Youth Programs website (www.youthtaiwan.net) and the Minister’s Mailbox (eyes.mofa.gov.tw), will be unavailable due to maintenance work from Friday, May 23, 19:00 (Taipei time) to Saturday, May 24, 20:00 (Taipei time). We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

State visit by Palauan President Whipps concludes; successfully deepens bilateral relations

Date：2025-05-24
Data Source：Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

May 24, 2025No. 173President of the Republic of Palau Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. and his delegation concluded a successful state visit to Taiwan on the morning of May 24. Following President Lai Ching-te’s December visit to Pacific allies entitled “Smart and Sustainable Development for a Prosperous Austronesian Region” and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung’s January trip to Palau as special presidential envoy and head of an industrial fact-finding mission, this visit marked the further deepening of diverse and robust cooperation between Taiwan and Palau under the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project. It also underlined the significant accomplishments that the two countries had achieved thanks to their staunch commitment to jointly promoting sustainable development. During his visit, President Whipps met with President Lai, attended a state banquet, and together with President Lai witnessed the signing of bilateral agreements on technical cooperation and diplomatic staff training and cooperation. Accompanied by Minister Lin, President Whipps also visited industries related to the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project in central and southern Taiwan. The tour reflected Taiwan’s continuing efforts to strengthen the resilience of Palau’s tourism-centered economy through integrated diplomacy and demonstrated the substantive success of bilateral collaboration.Leaving Taiwan today, the Palauan delegation was seen off at the airport by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Remus Li-kuo Chen. Since establishing diplomatic ties 26 years ago, Taiwan and Palau have enjoyed a solid friendship, mutual trust, and steadfast cooperation across all domains. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to uphold the close and cordial cooperative partnership between the two countries, promote the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, and deepen bilateral relations. It will also work with Palau to advance peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. (E)

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

May 20, 2025  
No. 165  

Former President Tsai Ing-wen visited Europe from May 10 to 19, traveling to Lithuania and Denmark before continuing to the United Kingdom. On May 15, the first day of her stay in the United Kingdom, she visited the UK Parliament at the invitation of British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Cochairs Sarah Champion MP and Lord Rogan. She was warmly welcomed by parliamentarians from across the political spectrum. 
 
The former president met with House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and took part in a reception at the House of Lords, where she delivered a speech. She exchanged greetings with nearly 50 parliamentarians and staff, including former Lord Speaker Baroness D’Souza, House of Lords Deputy Speaker Baroness Finlay, Trade Envoy to Taiwan Lord Faulkner, Labour Friends of Taiwan Chair Navendu Mishra MP, former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Innovation and Technology Ben Spencer MP, and Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller MP.
 
In her address at the House of Lords, former President Tsai said that the growing threat of antidemocratic forces was testing democracy around the world, adding that this demonstrated the need for Taiwan and the United Kingdom to work together in defense of freedom and democracy. She commended the House of Commons for passing a motion last November clarifying that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 made no reference to Taiwan. This was important in countering reckless behavior in the Taiwan Strait, she explained. Highlighting Taiwan’s position on the front line of defending democracy, former President Tsai said that Taiwan was a critical deterrent to China’s expansionist ambitions and would continue to contribute to protecting democratic values.
 
APPG Cochair Champion noted that Taiwan and the United Kingdom had a deep friendship and shared core values. She said that the United Kingdom should continue to pay attention to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which she added were essential to global security and prosperity. Cochair Champion noted that in recent years the Taiwan-UK partnership had deepened. She expressed hope that cooperation would expand in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, economic resilience, and other areas.
 
Former President Tsai also delivered a speech titled “In an Era of Shifting World Order: Taiwan as a Stabilizing Force” at her alma mater, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The event was moderated by incoming LSE Law School Dean Andrew Murray, who represented the university and LSE President Larry Kramer. Around 100 people, including General Counsel Elizabeth Messud, attended the speech. In her remarks, former President Tsai noted that the international community was experiencing a reassignment of security responsibilities and a rebalancing of trade relations. She said that to appropriately respond to multiple challenges such as economic fragmentation, political extremism, and military conflict, the function of multilateralism was becoming even more important. The former president emphasized that Taiwan had shown a high degree of resilience in turbulent times in the past, such as during supply chain restructuring, and had proven to be a trustworthy and competitive strategic partner. She added that Taiwan was ready to play a more proactive role in the new world order by further deepening cooperation with democratic countries and contributing to the global trade system. Her remarks were enthusiastically received by the audience. 
 
During her visit to the United Kingdom, former President Tsai also gave an address at Cambridge University, met with faculty and students at the School of Oriental and African Studies, attended a forum hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, and met with Taiwanese people working in the United Kingdom on technology startups and in the arts.
 
Taiwan-UK relations have witnessed significant progress in recent years. In 2023, the United Kingdom signed the Enhanced Trade Partnership arrangement with Taiwan, becoming the first European country to establish a formal economic and trade framework with Taiwan. The United Kingdom is Taiwan’s fourth-largest trading partner in Europe, third-largest source of investment, and fifth-most popular destination for Taiwanese students studying abroad. The countries collaborate closely in fields such as technological innovation, renewable energy, and societal resilience. Taiwan will further work together with the United Kingdom and other like-minded countries to advance democratic resilience and prosperity. It looks forward to the United Kingdom continuing to demonstrate its commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific region by deploying naval vessels through the Taiwan Strait and taking other concrete actions. 

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Government today welcomed the passage of a bill by the Legislative Council to increase the air passenger departure tax from $120 to $200 per passenger, which would apply to air tickets purchased from October 1 onwards.

It is anticipated that government revenue will increase by about $1.6 billion per year.

The Government said the new tax rate, which was proposed in the recent Budget, has struck a balance between raising revenue and minimising the impact on passengers when considering increasing the departure tax.

It added that the impact of the increase on the overall cost of travelling for air passengers is minimal.

The Air Passenger Departure Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 will be published in a Gazette notice on June 6.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Security Bureau today submitted a regulation to the Legislative Council (LegCo) that aims to facilitate the implementation of the Registered Fire Engineer (RFE) Scheme on November 1.

The Security Bureau said that currently, a person who intends to run various types of licensed premises can only rely on public services in making a fire safety risk assessment of the premises concerned and certifying fire safety compliance.

To facilitate business operations and make good use of professional and qualified human resources in the market, the bureau proposed to introduce the RFE Scheme to leverage professional engineers and qualified people in the market for the provision of fire safety risk assessment and certification services.

The Fire Safety Department will continue to deliver such services to members of the public if they so choose.

Apart from offering an additional option to the market, the implementation of the scheme could promote the development of the fire engineering profession. The fees of RFE services would be determined by the market.

The bureau highlighted that one of the key considerations for the Government in introducing the RFE Scheme is that it must not compromise fire safety and public safety.

Hence, in formulating the regulation, the Government aims to regulate RFE registration, and the provisions will cover the registration mechanism and duties of RFEs, the disciplinary and appeal mechanisms as well as the issue of the code of practice.

The Fire Services (Registered Fire Engineers) Regulation is subject to LegCo’s scrutiny by the positive vetting procedures.

At a later stage, the Government will introduce into LegCo the other three pieces of subsidiary legislation which are relevant to the implementation of the RFE Scheme for negative vetting.

Separately, the Secretary for Security will specify November 1 as the commencement date by notice in the Gazette, so that the scheme can start on the same day.