The Ministry of the Interior’s proposed amendments to the Nationality Act (國籍法) would fail to guarantee the naturalization rights of foreign nationals, civic groups said yesterday, demanding the full repeal of discriminatory provisions.
About 20 campaigners from the Taiwan International Family Mutual Help Association, Taiwan TransAsia Sisters’ Association and other immigrant advocacy groups gathered outside of the Legislative Yuan, shouting for the legislature to remove the “shackles” migrants face when naturalizing.
“The current law allows for our citizenship to be stripped at any time within the first five years for any kind of a police record — even a speeding ticket,” the Taiwan TransAsia Sisters’ Association’s Yadrung Chiu said.
“Government discretion to strip our citizenship is not fair because we have already gone through an extremely rigorous review process, including proving that we had no criminal record in the past,” she said. “A citizen is a citizen — if the government does not have the right to strip native Taiwanese of their citizenship, we should not be treated differently.”
Because foreign spouses are required to give up their native citizenship before naturalizing, being stripped of Taiwanese citizenship makes them stateless, leaving them in an administrative “black hole” if their relationship with their Taiwanese spouse ends because of death or divorce, she said.
A woman originally from Thailand named Tiponda said she had been stripped of citizenship after the broker who arranged her marriage was accused of fraud in cases involving other couples, and that she had forfeited her only opportunity to appeal because she did not understand that the appeal had to be filed within a week.
The death of her husband the same year ended any possibility of renaturalizing, she said.
“When I go to the Thai representative office, they say they cannot help me because I am Taiwanese now, but when I go to the National Immigration Agency, they say I am Thai,” she said, adding that she could only extend her resident rights in three month increments, making it nearly impossible for her to find stable employment, as well as making her ineligible for National Health Insurance.
Wong Lennon (汪英達), the director of the Serve the People Association’s service center and shelter for migrant workers, blasted the draft legislation for giving the government the right to strip new citizens of legal residency, as well as citizenship, if they fail to prove they have given up their original citizenship within a year, saying that the legislation perpetuated double standards on dual citizenship.
“The Taiwanese government in practice allows for dual citizenship by Taiwanese nationals, but still refuses to allow foreigners to maintain their original citizenship,” he said.
“We have to spend five years before getting a national ID card, but even after we get it, we still do not have the same rights as Taiwanese,” said Melisa Huang (黃麗莎), originally from Indonesia, criticizing draft legislation for failing to drop requirements that naturalized citizens wait 10 years before standing for public office.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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