Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators are scrambling in a “pro-China operatives” game, separately introducing prioritized bills, such as one aimed at relaxing restrictions on Chinese spouses of Taiwanese, which would reduce the number of years needed to become a naturalized citizen to four from six.
However, same-sex couples have been left by the wayside.
Today, Taiwanese can register their same-sex marriage with nationals from nearly any country, with the lone exception of China.
Due to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) and the strained relationship between Taiwan and China, same-sex marriages are closed off to cross-strait couples.
Taiwanese-Chinese same-sex marriages have fallen victim to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) policy of opposing everything related to China, creating a human rights orphan in the process. It is an unfortunate choice given the achievement of legalizing same-sex marriage under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), both of the DPP, have written articles and talked about the hardships, courage and insight of legalizing same-sex marriage, yet they never mentioned the omission of this human rights angle on the issue.
Under the DPP-led administration, in which there is often discussion around resisting China and anti-China consciousness, cross-strait same-sex couples have been left in a bind where they are allowed to love, but not marry. The DPP has forgotten that human rights should transcend ideologies.
Meanwhile, the KMT and TPP are treating heterosexual Chinese spouses as their legislative baby, whether it be through candidacies such as the, ultimately withdrawn, TPP legislator-at-large nominee Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), seeking identity cards in advance, pursuing absentee voting or discussing allowing Chinese spouses to bring their relatives to Taiwan to use the nation’s healthcare system.
Yet neither of these opposition parties has brought up how marriage, a most basic human right, cannot be granted to same-sex Chinese spouses.
On multiple occasions, the TPP has proposed that its chairman, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), fight for a constitutional interpretation if elected president, using this as an excuse to take credit for same-sex marriage policies and absolve the former Taipei mayor of his homophobic remarks.
Today, its best method for whitewashing is to immediately raise the issue of Taiwanese-Chinese same-sex marriage, but the TPP’s silence and inaction show how its members truly feel about minorities.
The KMT — the largest party in the legislature — should address the glaring omission of the DPP’s largest human rights failure. Questioning and doubting the ridiculousness of its stance on Taiwanese-Chinese same-sex marriage has the effect of highlighting the intentional neglect of marriage rights by Tsai and her administration. Yet, the KMT has also neglected to bring up the issue.
The KMT and TPP on the one hand roll out the welcome mat for heterosexual spouses, while on the other tightly slamming the door in the faces of same-sex Chinese spouses.
Apart from these two parties’ bills to loosen up the laws on Chinese spouses showing a superficial affinity for China, nobody has discussed how it builds a concealed homophobia within. For cross-strait same-sex couples, their wait for marriage includes even more dashed hopes and cruelty.
Kang Yunni works for a gender equality non-governmental organization.
Translated by Tim Smith
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
RSS