Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) yesterday launched a coalition to advocate rights protection and improved welfare programs for “new residents” of Taiwan, many of whom had acquired citizenship through marriage to a Taiwanese.
Lo said that she had received much help and support from across the political spectrum ahead of the inauguration of the Taiwanese New Immigrants’ Rights Advocacy Alliance of the Legislative Yuan.
Malaysia-born Lo said that the alliance is needed because the number of “new residents” had reached 560,000, or nearly 1 million when combined with their children who were born in Taiwan.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
In coming together under the alliance, lawmakers across party lines see the benefits for Taiwan of working to promote international collaboration, commercial trade, and cultural and educational exchanges with the “home nations” of “new residents.”
Most of the “new Taiwanese citizens” come from Southeast Asian nations, especially Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“We want ‘new residents’ who live in Taiwan to have security and happiness for their families, as they are the bridges for Taiwan to link with their home nations, becoming the advance guard for the government’s international diplomacy,” Lo said.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) in his address at the inauguration of the alliance said that issues affecting “new residents” are very important, and that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Executive Yuan have implemented many beneficial policies “as our government wants ‘new residents’ to become a new force for Taiwan.”
“‘New residents’ coming to live in Taiwan become Taiwanese, and their children are the new Taiwanese children... I always remind officers in the immigration agency to treat them just like they are Taiwanese,” Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS