Members of a new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) committee on immigrants were inaugurated yesterday to advise the party on immigration issues amid rapid growth in the number of immigrants living in Taiwan.
The committee was established to address the needs of new immigrants, which make up the fifth-largest ethnic group in the nation, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said at a ceremony held at DPP headquarters in Taipei.
The DPP was the first party to commit itself to issues relating to Aborigines and the party’s new immigrant committee is another step forward, said Tsai, who doubles as DPP chair.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“The number of immigrants has reached nearly 500,000 and the number of their children is more than 350,000. As a party responsive to public opinion and emphasizing ethnic pluralism, the DPP has to address the needs and opinions of new immigrants,” Tsai said.
The committee would help the nation become more multicultural and tolerant, as well as promoting exchanges with other cultures, she said.
Twelve committee members were announced yesterday, including TV star Tran Thi Hoang Phuong; Changhua County New Immigrants Association director Lee Meng-han (李孟涵); Indonesian lecturer Hung Ching-ching (洪晶晶); Thai dancer Hsu Chen-ni (許珍妮); Chang Yi-hui (張義惠), a member of a women’s group who supported Tsai’s presidential campaign; and Hualien County New Immigrant Association director Hung Yu (洪玉).
Chinese immigrant Ning Jiarong (寧家榮), the founder of a cosmetics company; and National Chi Nan University professor Ho Ching-jung (何景榮), an Indonesian-Taiwanese, were also named.
The other committee members are experts on immigration issues — DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青); women’s rights campaigner Tsai Shun-jou (蔡順柔); National Cheng Kung University professor Tan Le-kun (陳麗君); and National Kaohsiung University professor Ho Ching-jung (何青蓉).
Tran, who is to be chairwoman, said the establishment of the committee shows that the nation’s leadership has attached great importance to issues concerning immigrants.
A wider participation of immigrants in the nation’s decisionmaking process would harness the creativity of immigrants, Tran said.
Ning, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party, said she had withdrawn from the party and obtained Republic of China citizenship.
Her work on the committee would see her address issues that concern Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, such as the relatively longer process for Chinese spouses to obtain citizenship compared with immigrants from other nations.
There are 330,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan and their rights have improved over the years, and she would seek further improvements, despite the “historical factors,” Ning said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS