Chinese dissident Chen Siming (陳思明) arrived in Canada on Oct. 5 after being granted asylum. For Chen, it could be considered a satisfactory conclusion after being stuck at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for about two weeks after he refused to fly to China. For Taiwan, the incident shows the need to accelerate asylum law legislation.
Chen regularly commemorated the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 4, 1989. He has been repeatedly arrested around the anniversary and imprisoned.
Chen, who arrived at the airport on Sept. 22 after passing through Thailand and Laos, refused to board his flight to China and sought assistance to resettle in a third country. He stayed in the airport’s transit area and immigration office.
There was a similar case in 2018, when two Chinese dissidents spent four months at the airport before flying to Singapore to obtain short-term humanitarian visas. In 2019, two other dissidents stayed at the airport and in custody for nine months before obtaining asylum in Canada. Chen is lucky to have been granted political asylum in Canada after only two weeks. He has shown gratitude for help from rights groups, as well as the governments of Taiwan and Canada, for handling his case quickly and in the spirit of humanitarian care.
However, his situation has returned focus on concern that Taiwan, which is considered one of the most progressive and democratic countries in Asia, has no asylum law or a formal refugee pathway. A draft asylum law was proposed by the Ministry of the Interior in 2005, but has never been implemented, mainly because the China factor makes it a politically sensitive and complicated issue. Espionage and constitutional issues over whether Chinese should be considered foreigners or nationals are among the concerns.
People from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, have their cases reviewed individually as stipulated by the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), and the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例). As for refugees or asylum seekers from other countries, there no legislation for proper or prompt management.
The government was limited to “special assistance” when a Ugandan was stuck in immigration limbo for seven years after escaping mistreatment for being gay. The government has also been criticized for offering only 30-day visa extensions for Ukrainian applicants and their relatives fleeing war. The world is turbulent with a worsening ecosystem and military conflict. China’s National Security Law has also prompted rights advocates to flee, with Taiwan a prime destination.
The nation should advance asylum legislation with a focus on promulgating it next year, following the timeline of its human rights action plan. Political hurdles can be solved by adopting a dual system for Chinese and asylum seekers from elsewhere, while there are ways to prevent espionage.
Given the success of the “Taiwan can help” campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic, more could be done to bring the country’s legal systems in line with international human rights norms and humanitarian principles.
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the