An online petition started by a doctor in Taichung called on lawmakers to halt an amendment that would shorten the time needed for Chinese spouses of Taiwanese to gain citizenship in Taiwan.
The amendment could put a strain on Taiwan’s already burdened National Health Insurance (NHI) system, Cheng Ching Hospital thoracic surgery division doctor Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲) said. Doctors have seen many Chinese spouses bring their relatives to hospital emergency rooms, asking for full checkups, he added.
“They [Chinese spouses] even tell their relatives that healthcare in Taiwan is free and is easily accessible, and that healthcare providers in Taiwan would not deny a request for a full checkup,” Tu said.
There were 350,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan, accounting for 60 percent of all non-Taiwanese spouses in the country, a report published by the Taipei Times on April 6, 2020, showed. The report also said that 130,000 were naturalized.
If all of those naturalized Chinese spouses regularly invited relatives from China to receive medical care here, it could indeed put excessive strain on medical resources. However, the possibility of exacerbating the situation — should there be an increase in naturalized Chinese spouses — should not be a basis for denying them a shorter naturalization process.
In principle, spouses from China should be subject to the same benefits and regulations that apply to other foreign spouses. For example, it is still possible for Cuban nationals to apply for US citizenship if they are married to a US citizen, despite an embargo on Cuba.
Arguably, by imposing the same rules on Chinese as it does on other foreign nationals, the government sends a clear message to Beijing that Taiwan is a sovereign nation that is not subject to the laws of China. If the law allows foreign spouses to bring their relatives to Taiwan for medical treatment, then it would hardly seem right to deny Chinese spouses this right.
If there is an issue of misuse or overuse of medical resources, the government should address that through a separate amendment that makes it more difficult, or even impossible, for relatives of foreign spouses to visit hospitals or clinics in Taiwan except in emergencies. Emergencies could include cases like heart attacks and traffic accidents.
Another option would be to simply charge a premium for those who seek medical treatment without NHI coverage. That money could be used toward resources, which would benefit those who the medical system is intended to help.
“Another issue is equality,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said on Tuesday. Foreigners are required to renounce their original citizenship to acquire Taiwanese citizenship, but China does not agree to Chinese giving up their citizenship, she said.
Wu is correct, but no law enacted by Taiwanese lawmakers could ever compel the Chinese government to allow Chinese to renounce their citizenship.
China is not the only country with such a policy. For example, Costa Rica does not allow its nationals to renounce their citizenship, following a change to its constitution in 1995.
The best approach would be for Taiwan to allow all eligible foreign nationals to naturalize without renunciation of their original citizenship. The US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and many other democracies already allow dual citizenship.
It is actually Taiwan that created an unequal situation by requiring the renunciation of foreign citizenship for naturalization, as Taiwanese are allowed to retain theirs when they become citizens of other countries.
While it is important to protect access to medical and other resources, lawmakers should seek to do so in a way that does not create inequality for eligible foreign nationals who seek Taiwanese citizenship.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
RSS