Council of Grand Justices rules on issue of equality

The Council of Grand Justices has discounted a view that both Taiwanese and Chinese people should be treated equally under the law yesterday, suggesting legal relationships across the Taiwan Strait are subject to statutes specially designed to ensure the national interests of Taiwan.

In an interpretation of the existing restrictions on entry and residency of Chinese nationals, the council determined yesterday that the limitation was established in order to maintain social order and ensure the interests of the public. As a result, it weighs more than the interests of Chinese nationals, the council contended.

The council delivered the interpretation yesterday under an appeal from a Taiwanese man, whose mainland wife was denied permission to reside in the country because of overstaying, by one day, the three-month maximum allowed on her visa.

Lin Jung-hsi (林榮3?/CHINESE>), of Taipei County, filed the application for a residency permit for his Chinese wife, Fan Wei-chen (-S偉-s) in 1994. While the application was being reviewed by the Ministry of the Interior, Fan visited Taiwan in January 1995 and in July of the same year.

Arriving in Taiwan on July 17 for her second visit, Fan left for China on Oct. 17, 1995, when she was already a day over her three-month limit -- from July 17 to Oct. 16 -- permitted by the ministry.

The ministry later informed Lin that the application for residency was disallowed because of Fan's overdue departure after her second visit to Taiwan.

Moreover, Fan was banned from reentering Taiwan for a period of a year for the 24-hour delay.

When his petitions against the interior ministry's decision failed, Lin then filed an appeal to the administrative court, but finally lost the lawsuit against the ministry.

In requesting the council's interpretation -- which is only available in circumstances when all other legal avenues have been exhausted -- Lin strongly protested the existing restrictions on the entry and residency of Chinese nationals.

"Now we have to start all over again. And it might take at least 10 years for my wife to get a residence permit so we can stay together," Lin said.

"I wonder if anything is ever as tragic as this. Is there democracy in a world that has such cruel laws?"

An amendment to the ROC constitution states that legal relationships between people of Taiwan and China are subject to specially designed statutes.

In accordance with the amendment, the Statute Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣|a區與?j3院a區?H民關係條例) was created in 1992, which regulates entry and residency of Chinese nationals.

Based on this statute, the interior ministry issued restrictions detailing criteria and procedure in applying for permission of entry and residency.

The ministry regulates the duration of visits by Chinese to no longer than three months, with the three-month stay beginning from the day of their entry.

Lin argued that Chinese nationals should be treated equally with Taiwan citizens since the government has repeatedly claimed to want to unite with China, and has called upon the people of Taiwan to "rescue their Chinese compatriots."

Lin said the existing regulations governing entry and residency of Chinese nationals violate a constitutional guarantee of freedom of migration, and a guarantee that everyone is equal, both of which he believed applied to Chinese people as much as to Taiwanese people.