Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) policy advisory team yesterday proposed nine policies as part of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate’s platform on new immigrants.
The proposals included lowering the number of years Chinese spouses must wait before they can obtain a national identification card from six to four; establishing a new-immigrant council under the Executive Yuan; building a national-level interpretation system; encouraging cooperation between multinational corporations and students who are children of new immigrants; developing new immigrants’ professional exam-related knowledge; providing an environment for learning Chinese and establishing a digitized learning platform; using the advantage of immigrants’ cultural diversity to nurture international talent; including pregnant new immigrants who are not covered by the national health insurance program in the program; and providing care services to immigrants arriving in Taiwan for the first time.
They proposals were announced by the team at a ceremony at the KMT’s headquarters in Taipei to mark the founding of Han’s national new-immigrant supporters’ club, which was also attended by KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Wu said he hopes that everyone, regardless of their skin color, language or place of birth, can work together can create “one warm, big family.”
Over the past few years, many new foreign spouses have come to Taiwan, said former premier Simon Chang (張善政), the convener of Han’s policy advisory team.
There are now more than 550,000 new immigrants in Taiwan, he said.
There is a Council of Indigenous Peoples for the fewer than 570,000 Aborigines in Taiwan, he said, adding that a similar government agency should be created for new immigrants.
Meanwhile, Han attended the opening of his campaign headquarters in Penghu County.
Next year’s elections, on Jan. 11, “involve the survival or death of the Republic of China,” Han said, calling on voters to decide its future with their votes.
Additional reporting by Liu Yu-ching
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,