Tourism visa does not allow visitors to make speeches: NIA
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Chinese academic planning to lecture about unification has to leave Taiwan by the end of Thursday (screenshot from 中华复兴網（台灣）Facebook page).
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Chinese academic known for advocating the use of force to unify Taiwan with China will have to leave the island Thursday because he was planning to speak in public while only having applied for a tourist visa, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said.
Li Yi (李毅), described as a sociologist working in the United States, had been invited by small pro-unification groups to speak at a forum planned for Saturday in Taichung, the Central News Agency reported.
Following online comments by a writer pointing out his background and plans on the island, the NIA found out he had entered Taiwan on April 9 on a multiple-entry tourist visa, which did not allow him to make public speeches, according to CNA. Li would have to leave Taiwan by the end of Thursday, and if he did not do so voluntarily, he would be forcibly expelled, the reports said.
The event’s schedule showed a picture of Li under photos of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and of Tiananmen Square with the portrait of communist leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東). Organizers said a protest march and forum would still go ahead in Taichung on April 13, regardless of whether Li could attend or not. [FULL STORY]
