A group of Chinese spouses of Taiwan citizens yesterday urged the government to ease restrictions on their stay in Taiwan and on their gaining Taiwanese citizenship.
The spouses made the appeal at a press conference convened by Legislator Tina Pan (
Pan noted that 59,185 Chinese wives of Taiwan citizens have applied to stay in Taiwan and that only 16,620 have gained approval, and more than 40,000 are still waiting.
If they are forced to wait according to the annual quota of 3,600 set by the government, many will have to wait for 12 years before they can receive resident status.
She called such a long waiting period "inhumane," vowing that she would propose a revision of the regulations in the next legislative session in order to ease the restrictions. This would enable Chinese brides to obtain residency in Taiwan as soon as possible.
He Shun-shun, the Chinese wife of popular entertainer Ling Feng, said that she finally won the right to work in Taiwan after waiting for a decade.
Chen Yen, who used to teach at an art school in China, has been married to a citizen of Taiwan for two years. Noting that her husband is old and has a low income, she said she cannot imagine what might happen if she has to wait for more than 10 years to obtain an ID card in Taiwan.
She asked why Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens have to wait for more than 10 years when those from Thailand only need wait three years at the most.
The Chinese wives also expressed mixed views about the Executive Yuan's announcement Friday that it would open Taiwan from the start of next year on a trial basis to a limited number of Chinese tourists who are overseas students or permanent residents of other countries.
Ho said this step represents only the beginning and that after Taiwan and China both enter the WTO, more openings will be inevitable.
If Chinese can come to Taiwan, this will be very positive, she said, adding optimistically that she believes that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will be able to dissolve their misunderstandings about each other through mutual exchanges.
But Chen said the government still has too many restrictions in place which does not help her, pointing out that she has two children in China and that only one of them at a time can come to visit her under the current regulations.
She said that she cannot understand why the government is placing so many restrictions on Chinese, adding that "there is no need to be so nervous."
Another Chinese bride, named Ying Yuan-yuan, said that the figure of only 1,000 Chinese tourists to be allowed to visit Taiwan per day is "a paltry number" and will not "give enough economic benefits to Taiwan."
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS