The Taiwan International Family Association (TIFA) yesterday called on the government to provide more assistance to immigrant spouses and foreign workers whose lives were affected by Typhoon Morakot.
“We went through many disasters in the past decade — the 921 Earthquake in 1999, the SARS epidemic in 2003 and flooding and mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot,” TIWA secretary-general Wu Jing-ju (吳靜如) told a press conference in Taipei. “Yet we still pretend that migrant workers and immigrants who have contributed to this country do not exist when we launch rescue and relief efforts.”
Executive director Chang Yu-hua (張育華) said it was very difficult for families and friends of foreign workers and immigrants back in their home country to know whether their loved ones were safe because “in government documentation, there is no special nationality note for immigrant spouses and migrant workers who are rescued.”
“As the Council of Labor Affairs [CLA] and the National Immigration Agency [TIFA] have lists of migrant workers and immigrant spouses and where they live, they should be able to help put out the information,” Chang said. “Otherwise, because of the language barrier, it could be a problem for immigrants to get in touch with their families back home, or vice versa.”
A Vietnamese woman known as Ah-fang (阿芳), who married a Taiwanese and moved to Taiwan three months ago, said her mother in Vietnam was very worried during the first few days before she was rescued from the disaster-torn Namasiya Township in Kaohsiung County.
“My mother saw news about the typhoon on TV and saw that many roads were damaged and bridges down. She thought I was dead,” Ah-fang said at the press conference.
“When I finally called her after I was rescued, she just cried and cried,” she said.
While A-hong (阿紅), a Vietnamese caregiver, was rescued with her employer’s family from Taoyuan Township (桃源) in Kaohsiung, but she had yet to hear back from her Vietnamese friend Doan Thi Tham.
“We lived in the same city in Vietnam and the only thing I knew about her life in Taiwan is that she was living in Siaolin Viallage [小林, Jiasian Township [甲仙], Kaohsiung County] after getting married [seven years ago],” A-hong said. “I really want to know where you [Doan] are now.”
TIFA called on the CLA and the NIA to compile a bilingual list of immigrant spouses and foreign workers and to send a copy to diplomatic missions in Taiwan.
It called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance to victims’ families wishing to come to Taiwan.
Immigrant spouses and foreign workers in Taiwan who need any help can contact the association at (07) 7675-462 or (02) 2280-9500.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard