An online petition asking lawmakers to suspend the review of a draft amendment that would reduce the number of years required before Chinese spouses can obtain Taiwanese citizenship garnered 10,000 endorsements just 12 hours after it was posted.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proposed allowing Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship after four years of marriage, rather than six.
The petition to stop the proposed amendment was launched by Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), a doctor at Cheng Ching Hospital’s thoracic surgery division.
Photo: Taipei Times
“I saw many people talk about the bill online and was furious about it. I was worried that if the bill was passed, it would exacerbate the strain on medical resources available to patients in Taiwan,” Tu said yesterday.
He and fellow medical professionals have seen many Chinese spouses bring their relatives from China to hospital emergency rooms, asking for full-body checkups, Tu said.
“They [Chinese spouses] even tell their relatives that healthcare in Taiwan is free and is easily accessible, and that healthcare providers in Taiwan would not deny a request for a full-body checkup,” Tu said, adding these are not isolated cases.
Given staffing shortages in medical institutions across the country, lawmakers should think twice before proposing an amendment that could affect the medical resources available to the public, he said.
“I will send the petition, as well as relevant appeals to lawmakers at the legislature’s Internal Administration [Committee], as well as its Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee and urge them to halt the review,” Tu said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the draft quickly drew opposition from young people as it was introduced when China unilaterally adjusted the M503 aviation route and boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat following the deaths of two Chinese who were being chased by Taiwan’s coast guard on Feb. 14.
“Another issue is equality,” Wu said, as foreigners are required to renounce their original citizenship to acquire Taiwanese citizenship, but the Beijing government does not agree to Chinese giving up their citizenship.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition