A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator said yesterday that for the sake of national security, the waiting period for Chinese spouses of Taiwan nationals to obtain Republic of China (ROC) citizenship should not be shortened to four years from the present eight years.
DPP Legislator Chang Ching-hui (張慶惠) made the remarks as a legislative committee is set to review an opposition-initiated draft amendment to the Statute Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) on Wednesday to cut the waiting period in half.
Chang said that the DPP should consider the views of the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of the Interior before deciding on how to deal with the issue.
She said that in addition to considering national security, one should also consider the cross-strait situation and the population density in Taiwan, adding that she had reservations about the amendment, especially in the wake of reports of Chinese women coming to Taiwan to engage in prostitution under the guise of marriage.
The current regulations state that Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens can apply to stay as a dependent after being married for two years.
After an additional four years of residence with at least 183 days in each of those years, foreign spouses can apply for a long-stay visa. After two more years, they can apply for citizenship, as long as they do not have a criminal record.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Feng-chi (朱鳳芝), one of the authors of the amendment, said that the waiting period should be shortened based on human rights considerations.
KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), meanwhile, said that under current immigration laws, foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens can obtain ID cards after four years, making it unfair for Chinese spouses to wait eight years.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS