Former Taiwan vice president cancels Thai trip due to "visa issue"

[Hans Mann]

Taipei, May 6 (CNA) Former Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said on Friday that her plan to visit Thailand to attend an international conference has been canceled because her visa application was rejected by the Thai government.

Lu told reporters that she had planned to depart Thursday to take part in the Istanbul Summit 2016 to be held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation on May 7-8 in Bangkok but could not obtain a visa.

After enquiring about the matter with Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Taiwan's representative office in that country, she was told that the ministry could not decide on her visa application on its own and needed to submit it to the Cabinet for approval in light of her status as a former vice president, according to Lu.

But due to a lack of processing time, the Thai government decided to turn down the application and put off the visa issuance, she said.

Lu said over the past several years, she has visited many countries without any problems, but a strange atmosphere is emerging ahead of the May 20 transition of power in Taiwan.

She disclosed that she also encountered some problems while planning her visits to Australia and New Zealand recently.

Also Friday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said that as soon as it was informed of Lu's plan to visit Thailand on April 25, it instructed its representative office there to request that the Thai government issue a visa to Lu.

Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on April 29 by saying that Lu's application required the approval of the country's Cabinet and that due to a lack of processing time, it decided to turn down the application, Taiwan's MOFA said.

Former vice president cancels Thailand trip due to visa issue | Politics | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

[baldrick]

I do not understand why the supposed professional diplomats of the south east Asian regional countries cannot play China. The chins are not that inscrutable and like the yerman-flench-welsh inbreds they are amenable to a sharp kick in the gonads and they do pull their heads in. Like children they see how far they can push it

[hazz]

should the thai and britsh PM's ever meet, given the enthusiasm for licking both the american and Chinese bum... they can at least discuss the differing tastes of both.

[harrybarracuda]

Is that a discreet middle finger she is giving to the Thais with her left hand?

[CaptainNemo]

I do not understand why the supposed professional diplomats of the south east Asian regional countries cannot play China. The chins are not that inscrutable and like the yerman-flench-welsh inbreds they are amenable to a sharp kick in the gonads and they do pull their heads in. Like children they see how far they can push it

The Burmese aren't doing such a bad job... entertaining Japs and Yanks and Brits.
Viets and Flips are not vexed by China, this is a Thai-Lao thing where they seem to be awed by the Chi - the way some Thais talk about having Chinese blood, reminds me of conversations with Pakistanis claiming Arab blood; or Yanks claiming Irish blood - as if any of these things are things to be especially proud of?!

[thaimeme]

I do not understand why the supposed professional diplomats of the south east Asian regional countries cannot play China. The chins are not that inscrutable and like the yerman-flench-welsh inbreds they are amenable to a sharp kick in the gonads and they do pull their heads in. Like children they see how far they can push it

The Burmese aren't doing such a bad job... entertaining Japs and Yanks and Brits.
Viets and Flips are not vexed by China, this is a Thai-Lao thing where they seem to be awed by the Chi - the way some Thais talk about having Chinese blood, reminds me of conversations with Pakistanis claiming Arab blood; or Yanks claiming Irish blood - as if any of these things are things to be especially proud of?!

Well, in defence, there is quite a long and rich history of Chinese activity and influence [political and social] here in one form or another. Seems natural that Thai society [a lower percentage] takes upon a sort of unconscious benign and benevolent acceptance towards Chinese in general -

Not all, of course.
Many Thai circles are quite cautious and even indifferent towards the Chinese thing.

[OhOh]

Like children they see how far they can push it

A now private citizen of a foreign country gets a taste of Thai bureaucracy. Is that the price one pays for not admitting China into the ASEAN family.

Maybe the TD resident visa guy can offer her some tips?

Is that a discreet middle finger she is giving to the Thais with her left hand?

One wonders how the same attitude would go down for a western applicant.