About 200 Hong Kong protesters have come to Taiwan to immigrate for “political reasons” since June last year, and authorities accepted the applications of about 20 of them, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said on Tuesday.
The approvals followed investigations by the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Immigration Agency, he said.
The applications were made according to Article 18 of the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例), Shih said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
“However, there is still a significantly larger number of people waiting for their cases to be processed,” he added.
The article stipulates that: “Necessary assistance shall be provided to Hong Kong or Macau residents whose safety and liberty are immediately threatened for political reasons.”
However, due to the politically sensitive nature of the issue and its implications for cross-strait relations, the government has not publicized information about the cases handled according to the article.
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan has since July last year provided assistance to more than 200 Hong Kongers, Pastor Huang Chun-sheng (黃春生) said, adding that their ages ranged from one to more than 50.
Some of them were protesters who were ordered by Hong Kong police to appear in court, but they instead fled to Taiwan with lightly packed bags before their court date, he said.
“They showed up at the church in the winter wearing nothing but short-sleeved shirts and sandals, asking for help,” he said.
The church mainly provided shelter and psychological guidance to the protesters seeking help, Huang said, adding that it also helped some of them find accommodation or enroll in schools.
“We helped one person apply to a medical school, and a Taiwanese doctor offered to help pay their tuition and stick with them through their study,” he said.
As the church was not familiar with the protesters’ backgrounds, it asked Daniel Wong (黃國桐), a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who provided volunteer legal services to protesters last year, to interview them, Huang said.
The church helped those who were determined to take risks to stay in Taiwan, Huang said.
If they apply for immigration through Article 18, their case would undergo three evaluations, he said.
However, as the article is not clearly worded, most applications get processed only if they are handed over to authorities by someone on behalf of the applicant, Huang said.
Lin Chun-hung (林俊宏), a Taiwanese lawyer who represents Hong Kong protesters hoping to immigrate to Taiwan, said that residency cases for Hong Kong applicants vary in complexity depending on the method the applicant uses.
Those who apply as students are easily processed, while those who apply for work permits must first find an employer and a job with a monthly salary of at least NT$47,000, he said.
Cases involving dual citizenship, dependent family members or same-sex couples — which are not legally recognized in Hong Kong — are more complex, he said.
The rules must be more clearly defined so that a system can be followed when processing applications from prospective Hong Kong immigrants, he said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS