A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker has proposed including Chinese students in Taiwan under National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage as the party strives to address basic human rights and to turn around its image of being “anti-China.”
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) is considering proposing an amendment to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) to enforce a mandatory coverage of Chinese students who have enrolled in universities in Taiwan and have stayed in the country for more than six months, the Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday.
Under current law, NHI coverage for foreign workers and students with residence permits only applies to those who have stayed in Taiwan for more than six months. Chinese students, who cannot obtain residence permits, are not included.
DPP Department of China Affairs Director Honigmann Hong (洪財隆) said the party “welcomes the initiative, which is proposed out of humanitarian concerns.”
The DPP will officially announce its position on the issue after a comprehensive discussion among party members and the legislative caucus in the new session, which is still more than one month away, DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said.
There is not yet party consensus on the initiative.
Hong Chih-kun (洪智坤), a DPP Central Executive Committee member, said in a post on his Facebook page that health insurance coverage was not an “inherent right,” but a paid service.
The initiative should have been discussed and deliberated as an item of cross-strait negotiation, Hong said.
What should be discussed is the integration or mutual recognition of health insurance systems across the Taiwan Strait because more than 1 million Taiwanese residing in China are also in need of medical care, he said.
Hong said Wu’s initiative “has got the point wrong” and urged Wu to reconsider the proposal.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said the party welcomed the DPP’s proposal, as long as the DPP proposed the idea from the perspective of protecting the rights of Chinese students.
“However, if the DPP did so for political purposes, the party would only let Taiwanese people down,” she said.
Ma questioned the DPP’s stance on the policy of Chinese students in Taiwan, as the party had lashed out at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for damaging the rights of Taiwanese students when the president instructed the Ministry of Education to relax regulations to attract more Chinese students to Taiwan. Ma said the DPP was flip-flopping on cross-strait issues.
“The DPP criticized the government’s handling of the Chinese students policy, but now it claims it wants to defend the rights of Chinese students. The DPP’s flip-flop on cross-strait policies will probably confuse its supporters,” she said.
If the DPP plans to make adjustments to its cross-strait policies, it should not only discuss the inclusion of Chinese students in the health insurance program, but develop a more comprehensive policy on Chinese students, she said.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and