Even in Taiwan's bloated bureaucracy, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) stands out as one of the most obviously wasteful units.
Someone has come up with an official figure of 33 million "overseas Chinese," which might imply that the OCAC's remit covers more than the rest of the central government combined. Fortunately, it is completely spurious. The figure includes the large populations of ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as the many "Chinatowns" in North America and elsewhere. These people are citizens of foreign countries, where they have lived for generations and they maintain, at most, only a sentimental attachment to China. In an astonishing addition, this definition of "old overseas Chinese"
In fact, the OCAC is simply another relic of the old Republic of China. Ever since Sun Yat-sen
Since its establishment shortly after the founding of the Republic, the OCAC's real mission has been to lobby ethnic Chinese people to support the KMT in its struggle against the communists. Thus, its activities overlap almost completely with those of the KMT's Overseas Affairs Bureau
In short, for reasons dating from the pre-modern era, Taiwan's government contains a Cabinet-level organization that propagandizes and tries to curry favor with foreigners who happen to be of Chinese descent but, for the most part, have no specific connection to Taiwan.
In a related constitutional travesty, overseas Chinese nominally have the right to vote in Taiwan, and even more obnoxious, they are allotted eight reserved seats in the legislature. At last count, some 50,000 of these people registered to vote, but they get as many seats as the Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan (both "lowland" and "highland"), who not only number some 200,000 persons, but also have a genuine need for special status and protection that reserved seats imply. The idea that these emigres deserve reserved seats is mind-boggling.
The incoming director of the OCAC, Chang Fu-mei
She has gotten off on the right foot by calling for the mandate of the OCAC to be restricted to only those actually holding ROC citizenship. China eliminated special legal treatment for overseas Chinese as far back as the 1960s, correctly calculating that failure to do would only poison its relations with Southeast Asian countries. Ending the pretense of claiming these people as "compatriots" would be a very useful way for Taiwan to show its good will to these important neighbors.
Even supposing that one was interested in helping or providing services to these people at all, all of the OCAC's functions could easily be performed by the foreign ministry. At most, one might think, additional staff might need to be posted to countries with significant ethnic Chinese populations. Taiwan is probably the only country in the world that maintains a separate Cabinet body for such task.
Chang is an individual of undeniable integrity. But the task before her is formidable. Even with the best intentions, it cannot be easy for a Cabinet member to preside over the destruction of her agency. But that is precisely what Chang needs to do.
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