An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation.
Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning 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).
The previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
The Mainland Affairs Council would evaluate whether legislative actions would be needed to amend the law, Chen said.
The Executive Yuan’s change came three months after the High Court ordered the Kaohsiung City Government to pay NT$4.63 million (US$150,579) in state compensation after the accidental death of a Chinese citizen surnamed Qian (錢).
Qian was electrocuted by a malfunctioning street light while cycling in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) during a round-the-nation cycling tour in August 2018.
The man’s family was to receive reparations, despite the absence of reciprocal restitution arrangements with Beijing, as Chinese citizens are deemed Republic of China (ROC) nationals under the law, the court said in its ruling, citing a clarification issued by the Mainland Affairs Council.
This interpretation is contrary to mutual nonsubordination of Taiwan and China, and the apparent difference between Chinese and ROC nationals, the Executive Yuan said.
Starting from the day of issuance, the administrative mandate has been removed, and all government agencies are to amend regulations and policies accordingly, it said.
“That only ROC citizens have the rights of being Taiwanese is the [interpretation] that conforms with the spirit of the rule of law in a democratic nation,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
The administrative mandate has supported cognitive warfare by China, DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) added.
The order from the Cabinet would mean that judges would no longer be required to confer ROC national status to people from China, he said, adding that any such ruling would be “the personal ideological problems of the judge.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee De-wei (李德維) was cited by the Chinese-language China Times as saying that the Executive Yuan’s order is a political attack on the integrity of the judiciary and laws.
FIRST STEP: Business groups in Taiwan welcomed the deal, which does not include tariff reductions at this stage, as they called for the elimination of double taxation Taiwan and the US yesterday signed an initial agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade. The agreement was signed yesterday morning by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Managing Director Ingrid Larson in Washington, the Office of Trade Negotiations in Taipei said. The ceremony was witnessed by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) and Deputy US Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi. Taiwan and the US started talks under the initiative in August last year, after Taipei was left out of the Washington-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “The deal that will be signed tonight is not only very historic,
Beijing yesterday blamed US “provocation” for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of a US surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident came at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US this year. “The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said when asked about the latest incident. “This
‘GLOBAL NETWORK’: The only way to deter a Chinese invasion is for the international community to unite in its resolve, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee (李淳) yesterday urged democratic nations around the world to not let Beijing dictate the definition of their “one China” policies, saying that they should increase cooperation with Taiwan to build a resilient democratic network. Lee made the remarks during his speech, titled “Ukraine and Taiwan: Why Global Unity Matters,” at the annual Bratislava Forum in Slovakia. “People in Taiwan have been paying close attention to the situation in Ukraine and admire Ukrainians for defending their homeland. They are [also] fighting for Taiwan and democratic countries around the world,” Lee told forum participants. “The international
HARD-WON FREEDOM: Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters has not been and should not be forgotten, as China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, Lai said Taiwanese enjoy democracy and freedom and have multiple ways to express their creativity, and hopefully young people in China would also one day have the freedom to sing and express themselves, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s bloody crackdown on student-led protests in Beijing in 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident. Tsai posted a photograph taken in March in a subway station in Guizhou, China, where hundreds of young people gathered to sing People With No Ideals Don’t Get Hurt (沒有理想的人不傷心), saying that they
RSS