A group of Taiwanese students in Norway is planning to file a lawsuit against the Norwegian government for changing the nationality on their residency permits from Taiwan to China, a Taiwanese law student and lawyer representing the students said on Monday.
To pay for the legal proceedings, the students last month launched a fundraising campaign to raise about NT$4.88 million (US$158,617) for the four stages of the legal action, said the lawyer, who identified himself only as Joseph.
The students have so far raised about NT$2.12 million, topping the NT$1.22 million needed for the first phase of the process, he said, adding that the students expect to file the lawsuit next month at the earliest.
The lawyer, the founder of a campaign for Taiwanese to be given the correct nationality designation in Norway, said the Norwegian government first changed its residency permits from Taiwan to China in 2010.
Since Chinese writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 2010, the Norwegian government has sought to distance itself from Taiwan over fears of further angering China, he said.
Despite repeated protests against the name change, the Norwegian government has failed to respond, which angered many Taiwanese students and prompted the decision to take further action, Joseph said.
In March last year, the Taiwanese students received legal assistance from a bar association in Oslo to file a petition with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, accusing the Norwegian government of failing to respect the identity of Taiwanese.
The petition said the Norwegian government’s failure to respect Taiwanese identity contravened its constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
However, the directorate repeatedly postponed its review of the petition and finally rejected it on the grounds that the petitioners’ rights and obligations were not affected by the name change.
In March, the Taiwanese students filed a petition with the directorate’s Immigration Appeals Board, but the petition was rejected, citing the nation’s “one China” policy.
The petition has drawn attention from the media in Norway and Taiwan, and Aftenposten, Norway’s best-selling newspaper, published a major report on the incident, Joseph said.
After receiving such media coverage the Taiwanese students decided to file a lawsuit against the Norwegian government, he added.
The lawyer said if the students lose their lawsuit, they would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, forcing the international community to address the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS