About 50 members of a Filipino-Taiwanese group yesterday urged the government to grant them full-fledged citizenship, which they do not have despite being Republic of China (ROC) passport holders.
The members of the Concern Alliance for Filipino Chinese rallied outside the legislature, carrying signs and chanting slogans, such as “50 percent national,” to voice their dissatisfaction.
“Born and raised in the Philippines, these overseas Taiwanese do not carry the identification card that most ROC citizens have,” said Lorna Kung, a consultant for the alliance, who added that an identification card was a prerequisite to registering for national labor and health insurance.
Photo: CNA
The government has denied this group — labeled by the immigration law as “ROC nationals without citizenship” — identification cards since 1991, when it instituted tighter border controls.
The group said they are also required to apply for a visa to enter Taiwan, even though they are ROC passport holders.
“Why does an ROC national have to apply for a visa to enter the country? This is ridiculous,” Kung said.
Moreover, even after moving to Taiwan, these ROC passport holders must stay for seven years before they can apply for resident certificates and then wait another year before they can obtain identification cards, the alliance said.
It added that many of its members have to leave the country once every six months to maintain their legal residence status in Taiwan.
“We are Taiwanese. We are not foreigners,” some group members chanted.
They also urged lawmakers to pass amendments proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who joined the rally to show her support.
The amendments would eliminate the visa requirement for Filipino Taiwanese with ROC passports and reduce the period before being able to apply for resident certificates to three years.
According to a government report issued in January, of the more than 60,000 ROC nationals without citizenship, more than 2,000 are Filipino Taiwanese.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
RSS