The National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) plan to replenish Taiwan’s younger generation with Chinese immigrants is absurd, Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Cheng-chang (賴振昌) said yesterday.
Lai made the comments in response to an NIA immigration law draft proposal titled “draft amendment for the tabulation of the quota for the residency or permanent residency of Mainland-area peoples in Taiwan through family,” which would increase the number of Chinese minors, those younger than 20, granted resident status in Taiwan.
Its statement of purpose said: “The amendments to the quota tabulation is proposed because the trend toward smaller family size has caused a decline in the youth population, while relaxing restrictions could replenish the youth population, increase the size of the working-age population, protect their right to family (家庭團聚權), replenish the youth demography ... and ameliorate population aging.”
The draft amendment would increase the yearly residency quota for children of legal Chinese residents in Taiwan — a path to residency status that does not require a parent to be married to a Taiwanese national — from 180 to 300.
In other words, Chinese who have resident status in Taiwan and have been living in Taiwan for two years or more, including a minimum of 183 days per annum, can apply for a national identification card.
“Anything China wants, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government gives,” Lai said, slamming the NIA’s proposal, saying that he considered it “absurd.”
The Ma administration is trying to permit as many Chinese immigrants as it can before Ma’s term runs, despite having already increased the flow of Chinese immigration substantially in past years, he said.
“China has a population of 1.3 billion. Can Taiwan survive if 1 percent or even one in 1,000 migrate here? Immigration policy requires comprehensive planning and national security evaluations, especially if it deals with a nation that is hostile to Taiwan, like China,” he said.
“Though there is a right to family, non-Taiwanese children should not be permitted to immigrate here. If Chinese residents miss their children, they can go back to China. No one is taking away that right,” he said.
The NIA said it drafted the bill because the annual residency quota for Chinese citizens applying through family — increased to 180 in 2012 — is inadequate for existing applicants, of whom there are 828, with a queue estimated at “between one and 2,000” and a processing time of “a minimum of 10 years,” which should be “four to six years, ideally.”
Of the 160,700 Chinese citizens who obtained permanent residency in Taiwan 1991 to September, 114,666 are spouses of Taiwanese citizens and 52,335 are relatives of a Chinese citizen, including parents or children.
However, a majority within the latter group are born to a Taiwanese parent in China, according to NIA statistics.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS