By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called on Taiwanese stranded in Myanmar to contact the local Taipei Economic and Cultural Office as soon as possible for assistance amid an escalation in violence in the Southeast Asian country.
Armed conflict broke out in northern Myanmar late last month, with the UN describing it as “the largest in scale and most extensive geographically” since a military coup in February 2021.
An alliance of ethnic minority insurgent groups joined forces with fighters calling for democracy to launch an attempt to challenge the junta’s rule, Reuters reported.
Photo: AFP
Taipei has so far helped 149 Taiwanese return to Taiwan, while 84 remain in the nation, ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said.
Traveling in northern Myanmar has become difficult and foreigners are prohibited from crossing through many areas, he said.
The office is working with overseas Taiwanese in Myanmar and international non-governmental organizations to help stranded Taiwanese, Liu said.
When receiving calls for assistance from Taiwanese, the office would locate the person right away and help them work out plans to seek safety, he said.
Regarding reports that Burmese authorities had as of Tuesday handed over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects to China as part of a bilateral effort to crack down on online scams, Liu said that the National Police Agency is looking into reports that six of the suspects are Taiwanese.
The agency would help them return to Taiwan if the report is found to be true, he added.
In other developments, the ministry has alerted Taiwanese residents and travelers in Zimbabwe about the seriousness of a local cholera epidemic.
The cholera outbreak in the southern African country has become increasingly serious, with more than 500 new cases reported every week since the end of last month, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Anthony Ho (賀忠義) said.
As of last week, there were more than 1,200 confirmed cases, more than 50 confirmed deaths from cholera and more than 150 deaths suspected to be from the disease this year, Ho said, citing Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Care data.
Earlier this month, Zimbabwe declared a state of emergency in the capital, Harare, over the outbreak, which likely resulted from water contamination, he said.
Taiwanese in Zimbabwe should pay close attention to the epidemic and, when in need, contact the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa at 27-82-802-9380 or the ministry at 886-800-085-095, he said.
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