A Democratic Progressive Party legislator yesterday introduced a draft amendment that would require Chinese spouses to swear an oath of loyalty to Taiwan and take a test of civic knowledge before becoming citizens.
Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) proposed the changes amid controversy around a proposal to allow Chinese spouses to obtain citizenship after four years of marriage, down from six.
Under the proposal, the oath of loyalty would be legally binding, with contravention of it resulting in the person losing their household registration.
Photo: Reuters
Foreigners wishing to become citizens in most cases must forfeit their original citizenship and take a test, but there are legal and practical difficulties in asking Chinese immigrants to renounce their citizenship, Huang said.
Based on other countries’ citizenship laws, Huang’s proposal would add a naturalization oath and a test of language proficiency, citizens’ rights and obligations 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).
The oath would be performed publicly at a location and in a manner chosen by the Ministry of the Interior, the proposal says.
The text of the oath would read: “I completely renounce my former status as a citizen of the Mainland area and my basic rights and obligations herein. I also vow that after becoming a citizen of the Taiwan area, I will defend its democracy and freedom, abide by its Constitution and laws, and fulfill my civic obligations.”
The text would then be signed and stamped by the applicant, and sent to the ministry to be archived.
The citizenship test content, exemptions, fees and other matters would also be decided by the ministry, the proposal states.
Contravention of Article 33 or Article 33-1 of the act prohibiting engagement with certain organizations or people in China or contraventions of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) would result in the loss of household registration, which may be obtained after gaining citizenship.
Those with childcare or other obligations due to their status as citizens would be asked to leave the country, but their citizenship would not be forfeit, the draft states.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to