New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday said that Chinese spouses would be able to obtain Taiwan’s identification cards in four years rather than six years if he is elected.
Hou made the pledge on International Migrants Day.
“Immigrants make Taiwan their home and lay roots here. My immigration policy is developed around the core concept that they would be able to build a home in Taiwan, with the goal of empowering them. My hope is that immigrants and the next generation of Taiwanese feel that they belong here and are free to pursue happiness,” Hou wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
If elected, Chinese spouses would receive Taiwanese identification cards in four years, the same as other foreign spouses, while pregnancy care for legal immigrants would be covered by the National Health Insurance system, he said.
His administration would review the offshore interview requirement of marriage-based migrants, and establish a national platform of interpreters to assist immigrants in accessing legal and medical services and to resolve labor disputes, he said.
“We would establish more language centers for immigrants to learn Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Hakka and indigenous languages. For the next generation, we would help develop their talents so they can help explore opportunities in Southeast Asian countries,” Hou said.
Immigrants would be allowed to take professional license exams and management-training courses, and an immigrant council would be formed to enforce his proposed immigration basic act, he said.
Hou’s campaign headquarters yesterday defended the candidate’s policy of developing the Wen Tzai Chun (塭仔圳) area — a 400-hectare property between New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang (新莊) and Taishan (泰山) districts — and offering a housing loan of NT$15 million (US$479,019) to young people, following criticisms from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The DPP’s housing policy is to pay landlords, rather than helping young people to buy a home, Hous’ campaign spokesperson, Wang Ming-hsu (王敏旭), said.
“Many occupational accidents have happened in Wen Tzai Chun in the past five decades. The DPP did nothing about this property when its politicians governed New Taipei City. Mayor Hou fixed up the property within two years of taking office,” Wang said.
“The housing loans we propose would help young people with stable incomes and good credit histories buy homes, and couples with double incomes would be able to quickly buy a residence to raise a family. Elderly Taiwanese would not need to use their savings to help their children buy a home anymore, and could comfortably plan for their retirements,” he said.
In other news, the New Power Party (NPP) yesterday urged the Control Yuan and prosecutors to investigate whether Hou had contravened the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) and Criminal Code for accepting illegally collected political funds from Yeangder Group while running for mayor in 2018 and last year.
NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) accused the group of asking its employees to each donate NT$100,000 on specific dates for Hou’s campaigns, with donations topping NT$11 million.
Hou’s campaign office said that all political donations are handled in accordance with the Political Donations Act.
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