The China Post
Date: November 21, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has urged nationals who travel overseas to keep their passports with them at all times, following an increase in the number of R.O.C. passports reported stolen or lost abroad.

Roger Luo (羅添宏), deputy director-general of MOFA’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, said that between 2010 and 2016, Taiwanese overseas offices offered emergency assistance to R.O.C. citizens in 34,416 instances.

Among these 34,416 cases, nearly half, or 17,216 cases, consisted of assisting nationals to obtain new documentation after their passports were reported stolen, he said.

The number of reported passport thefts has increased in recent years, Luo said, adding that between January and October of this year, Taiwanese overseas offices handled 2,485 such cases.    [FULL  STORY]