TAIWAN （Taiwan News）— As the Macau government had refused to grant a visa extension to the acting head of Taiwan's representative office, he was forced to return home Sunday (June 27), Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) stated Monday.
The MAC pointed out that the Macau authorities had not grant Chen Chia-hung (陳佳鴻) a visa extension because he would not sign an affidavit recognizing the "one-China principle." Following Chen's departure, only four staff members remain at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Macau, per CNA
Three of the staff will return to Taiwan in August and September, while one has been allowed to stay until the end of October of next year. The representative office faces closure if Macau does not issue visas for Taiwanese staff before November 2022.
Seven Taiwanese officials stationed in Hong Kong were similarly compelled to leave on June 22, as they had also declined to sign a pro-Beijing statement in exchange for a visa extension. Only one employee remains at the office, with their visa set to expire in July.
The Taiwanese government is preparing to maintain TECO's service in the former Portuguese colony, even if it requires hiring locals to run the office, which is the same proposal that has been adopted for the TECO in Hong Kong.
Regarding a new head for the Macau office, one candidate has been found. However, the MAC has refused to name the person to avoid an adverse reaction from the Macau government.
Tensions have been rising between Taiwan and the two Chinese special administrative regions since 2019, and diplomatic visas have become a weapon in the political wrestling.
Macau closed its representative office in Taiwan on June 19, accusing Taipei of refusing to issue visa extensions for its officials. This happened just a month after Hong Kong had shut down its own office in Taiwan, claiming the latter had offered assistance to anti-government protestors in Hong Kong.
The MAC assigned Thomas Chang (張多馬) as the head of its office in Macau in 2019, but as he did not sign the contentious affidavit, he was unable to get a visa to enter the territory.
Lu Chang-shui (盧長水), who was chosen as the TECO representative in Hong Kong in 2018, spent his two-year term working in Taipei, as Hong Kong refused to issue him a visa.
