The minimum time required for naturalization of Chinese spouses should be extended from six years to eight years, civil groups said yesterday, adding that the government should ban rhetoric advocating war the same way the German government bans the display of Nazi symbols and gestures.
Members of the Kuma Academy and Anti-Communist Volunteers Alliance jointly petitioned the government at a news conference to enforce a stricter immigration policy for Chinese spouses.
They made the call after the National Immigration Agency revoked the permanent residency permit of Chinese influencer Liu Cheng-ya (劉振亞), known as “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣), who is married to a Taiwanese, for advocating the military takeover of Taiwan by China on the Internet.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Liu was ordered to leave the country after her residency permit was revoked.
She first defied the order by filing an injunction, which the Taipei High Administrative Court denied.
Yesterday morning she vowed to stay in the country, but changed her mind and left in the evening.
China has never changed its intention to invade Taiwan and has been seeking to destroy democracy and freedom in the nation through military exercises, disinformation and other infiltration techniques, said democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who was detained by the Chinese government for five years on charges of inciting subversion of state power.
Lee cited a Freedom House report published this year, which said there were 160 transnational repression incidents last year.
The report said that the “Chinese Communist Party remains the world’s leading perpetrator of transnational repression and is responsible for 272 recorded physical incidents since 2014.”
People working for the Chinese Ministry of State Security in March last year tried to kidnap a Chinese dissident and force him onto an international flight at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, it said.
Many countries have condemned China for recruiting Chinese expatriates to intimidate dissidents and foreign politicians critical of China, Lee said.
“When stipulating policies and regulations related to China, including the naturalization policy for Chinese spouses, the government needs to take into account facts related to the Chinese government,” Lee said.
The Taiwanese government should make laws to regulate speech advocating war and spreading hatred in the same way that the German government bans the display and promotion of Nazi symbols and gestures, he said.
“The government should particularly be serious about speech advocating for the unification of Taiwan by force, as they are completely destroying the foundation of freedom of speech, democracy, freedom and human rights,” he said.
Kuma Academy chief executive officer Chu Fu-ming (朱福銘) said the groups are petitioning for the minimum number of years required for Chinese spouses to be naturalized being extended to eight years from six.
Chinese spouses who publicly advocate for China to take over Taiwan by force should not be naturalized, Chu said, adding that taxpayer money should not be spent on people who “commit treason” and “threaten” national security.
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