The Executive Yuan yesterday said it would set up a Cabinet-level coordination task force to deal with the affairs of the nation’s hundreds of thousands of new immigrants as they often require cross-ministerial efforts.
The Ministry of the Interior presented a report at the weekly Cabinet meeting about its plans to empower new immigrants and provide them with better rights protection and support.
The new immigrants — who number about 500,000, in addition to their children, who number about 200,000 — are the country’s “new assets,” Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said.
A Cabinet-level task force on new immigrants’ affairs will be set up to streamline cross-ministerial communication and resources integration, Mao said.
The task force will be convened by Minister without Portfolio Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇), while Executive Yuan adviser Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) will be its executive secretary.
A consultation group will be established alongside the task force to “incorporate non-governmental organizations and social groups’ opinions,” the premier said.
Mao instructed concerned government agencies to review existing measures on the care and assistance provided to foreign — including Chinese — spouses, and “to solve their problems by first setting the priority in accordance with their needs,” which could differ based on their background.
He also emphasized the need to promote “mother tongue education” among second-generation immigrants, especially during their elementary-school years.
“Current institutions should be re-examined and a more flexible way should be drawn to pass down mother tongues [to children]. The resources offered by first-generation immigrants should be tapped to help second-generation immigrants establish a sound [bilingual] foundation,” he said.
As of last month, the number of marriage-based immigrants has reached almost 500,000, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
“It means that there are almost 500,000 families in the country that are immersed in a multicultural environment, and they need [a government] with a greater and prescient perspective on its assistance on the education and the future development of the children of the new immigrants,” the ministry said.
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