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EU social media accounts display Taiwan flag in travel announcement

蘋果日報 2021/06/19 21:00


The European Union lifted travel restrictions on Taiwan and other foreign territories on Friday, with its official social media accounts using a Republic of China flag emoticon in a rare display of the sensitive symbol.
A tweet from the EU Council’s account on Friday said that “travelers from Albania, Lebanon, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, US and Taiwan should also be allowed to travel into the EU.” The tweet included the flag of the Republic of China commonly used in Taiwan. China considers democratic Taiwan as a wayward province that’s part of its territory.
In the press release accompanying the tweet, Taiwan was listed “under the category of entities and territorial authorities that are not recognized as states by at least one member state.”
Travel restrictions to the EU for Hong Kong and Macao residents will also gradually be lifted, with the requirement for reciprocity no longer applicable. The requirement for reciprocity for mainland China remains in effect, meaning that travel restrictions will not be lifted until Beijing offers the same conditions for EU residents.
Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang said that the lifting of travel restrictions served as international recognition of Taiwan’s pandemic prevention work.
In a post on Facebook on Saturday, Su said that the lifting of the restrictions was a result of the great efforts made by all the people of Taiwan. He added that although the number of cases had declined recently, the rate of severe illness among high-risk groups was still worrying.
“I hope my fellow compatriots continue to strictly abide by all the epidemic guidelines and do not relax,” Su said.
It is rare for the Republic of China flag to appear on official EU platforms, although it also occurred in April 2020 when a China Airlines cargo plane was photographed delivering masks to Europe at a time when Europe was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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