In a speech on Wednesday to the nation’s civil servants, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said that maintaining sovereignty and ensuring the interests of Taiwanese remained the guiding principles of the government’s cross-strait policy.
“We should not do things that are not beneficial to the public. Those who execute cross-strait policies should act as gatekeepers when necessary and step on the brakes where necessary to maintain these principles,” the premier said.
Wu did not provide examples in the government’s current China policy that could be considered “putting the brakes on.” He would do well to look into a set of regulations recently promulgated by the Ministry of Education and — in his own words — “step on the brakes” to make sure Taiwanese interests are upheld.
A notice on Oct. 2 that the ministry issued to all local government education bureaus demanded they provide schooling assistance to Chinese spouses’ adopted children or children from previous marriages, as outlined in the Guidelines Governing the Education of the Children of Outstanding Overseas Science and Technology Talents (境外優秀科學技術人才子女來台就學辦法).
The notice immediately led to mixed interpretations. While Tainan City councilors across party lines interpreted the notice as an instruction to local education bureaus to give these children preferential treatment — such as enrolling them in public schools and giving them bonus points on college entrance exams — the ministry said the articles would not apply to this group, and that children from China would not be granted preferential benefits.
It is understandable that the ministry wishes to address the rights of China-born children and provide them with an amicable educational environment. However, a fair set of rules must be mapped out to ensure Taiwan-born children’s rights are not harmed as a result.
Details are yet to be clarified, but the fact that the notice was issued specifically in regard to Chinese spouses’ children from previous marriages is intriguing enough.
Why must the government single out children of Chinese spouses and allow them to use such guidelines? Such a decision could spur cases of forgery and fake adoption.
Local media recently reported that more than one in three Taiwanese colleges are likely to close in the next 12 years because of a shortage of students as the nation’s birth rate falls.
These regulations from the ministry will hardly encourage families to have more children if they believe that one day their children’s rights will be undermined.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is a master of making up rules to benefit strategic groups of people, as preferential treatment for military personnel and teachers attests to. The government under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) leadership now appears to be planning to create yet another group of privileged people.
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused