On Monday, the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission gave a glimmer of hope to a group of more than 100 Tibetans in exile who made their unfortunate way to Taiwan in hopes of gaining residency here.
The commission promised shelter for the Tibetans while their fate is decided and said the Cabinet might propose amending the Immigration Act (出入國及移民法) to allow them to stay.
As the law stands, the Tibetans would have no hope of help from the government. Many in the group have lived here illegally for years. They entered the country on forged travel documents — passports from India and Nepal — thus deceiving immigration staff. But most importantly, the policy that at one time helped Tibetans in exile come to Taiwan and stay here has been defunct for years, while the nation has no asylum law.
Yet the Tibetans, many of whom probably have no legal passport, cannot easily be returned to India and Nepal — countries they entered from Tibet before continuing to Taiwan, and which can refuse them entry based on their lack of travel documents. The worldwide irony of asylum law is that would-be refugees must usually enter a country illegally before they can legally seek asylum: There is no internationally recognized right to enter a country with the purpose of seeking asylum.
The other option — returning the Tibetans to their home country — can hardly be considered. Having fled once, they would likely meet harassment from authorities, compounding the oppression that prompted them to flee in the first place.
While the Tibetans are here illegally under local law, the fact that Taiwan has no procedure to judge their claim to stay is illegal under international law. The nation has a responsibility to create a mechanism to deal with applications from potential refugees.
Taiwan should consider that this obligation applies to it regardless of the nation’s limited participation in international bodies. During the decades when international asylum law took form at the UN and the UN High Commissioner of Refugees was established, the Republic of China was a member. The governments of the world, it was decided, share a responsibility for the tragic reality that hundreds of millions of people face political persecution or violence within their own countries.
Taiwan cannot continue to decide the fate of those in need on a case-by-case basis, seeking loopholes or adding piecemeal amendments to the Immigration Act.
This group of Tibetans are not the only people in Taiwan who find themselves in limbo, nor should the government expect that this case will be the last. The nation does attract a small number of would-be refugees, such as from African countries, and earlier this year, two Chinese asylum-seekers drew the media’s attention. Asylum seekers will continue to make the sad mistake of coming to Taiwan to apply for help under a law that doesn’t exist.
Unless this is addressed by the legislature through the creation of an asylum law, the fate of those who say they suffered persecution in their home countries may depend on their ability to win public sympathy through media coverage. Where the public’s concern is sufficient, the government may be moved to act, if only to avoid controversy.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then