Taiwanese dreams quashed
I have learned a hard lesson about Taiwanese life and politics, which indicates that this is not the open, progressive, equitable and free nation it claims to be.
About six months ago, I learned that Taiwan had changed its laws and was allowing foreigners to become citizens. This was hardly possible in the authoritarian past when one was required to give up one’s home citizenship before being able to become a Taiwan citizen.
This harsh limitation put Taiwan in a select group of inflexible and restricted countries (dictatorships as often as not) and expunged it from membership in the company of truly free countries in the world, where dual citizenship is perfectly common.
When I found out about this law change, I was very excited. I hoped that I could have a chance to gain Taiwanese citizenship.
I saw there were various requirements that did restrict the possibility of citizenship and in some ways this right was limited to fairly high-level professionals in various fields, but I felt I could meet the standards. I have lived and paid taxes in Taiwan for 17 years, have entirely relocated here and now say this is my home and will be until the day I die. I have contributed to culture here in many ways, not least in the fact that I have coached and taught and trained thousands of students in Taiwanese schools, from children to college students.
I have not been truly active in Taiwan politics, but I am fully aware and expert in all that Taiwan experiences and faces politically in the world, and have at times spoken publicly on these issues (including in the Taipei Times).
I am an associate professor who has published dozens of academic papers, a certain high-level status in education.
Yes, I felt that I was far from just any foreigner breezing through Taiwan for a few years, teaching in cram schools and boozing it up at foreigner bars five nights a week. I have lived a sober and committed life here, for going on two decades.
This said, I attempted to look into the possibility of citizenship. I knew by this time you could not just pop into any government office and apply. You had to have approval at a fairly high level.
So I went to the president of my school, Ruay-shiung Chang (張瑞雄) of the National Taipei University of Business, and got a letter of recommendation from him. I thought this should pretty much be enough to get started, but I was very wrong.
When I tried to submit this to Taipei’s Yonghe District city office, I was told brusquely: “No way, it is not good enough; you need a letter from the highest level of Taiwan government.”
This meant the Ministry of Education.
Well, this was disappointing and it was made worse by the woman in Yonghe telling me in no uncertain terms: “Nobody is going to get this; you have to be a Catholic priest who has lived in Taiwan for 50 or 60 years; nobody else will obtain citizenship.”
Indeed, the only foreigners who have thus far gained Taiwanese citizenship (about five people) are Catholic priests [and nuns] who have lived here for four or five decades.
This was all worrisome, but I pressed on. I returned to the school president and asked if he could go to the Ministry of Education.
He said he would try.
To make a long story short, several weeks later he told me: “No chance, they said they will not do it.”
It turns out the woman in Yonghe was right and no other foreigners are receiving this right and privilege in Taiwan (I have heard of no others, even teachers who have been in Taiwan 40 years and more).
When I got this news, the game up was up and I knew I had no chance of ever obtaining Taiwan citizenship, a right and privilege I had looked forward to in the most faithful and determined ways.
I wanted to give back (to vote on issues and candidates in the future), to contribute politically, socially and personally, to this nation which has given so much to me.
However, I found out that Taiwan will give so much, but no more.
And so I saw the truth. Taiwan is not the tolerant, leading-edge, egalitarian place it loftily claims to be. It is far from that. It is still a polity lodged in black, Cold War, autocratic politics that limits freedoms, rights and benefits.
I hoped for something greater, Taiwan, but it was not to be. I will go on living here as I have for some decades, but I will never be “Taiwanese,” as I once dreamed.
David Pendery
Taipei
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