Beijing’s issuing of residency permit cards for people from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, which came into effect yesterday, is part of a ploy to bring Taiwan into China’s political fold, the Mainland Affairs Council said.
The cards, which carry an 18-digit code, look almost identical to Chinese identification cards and are aimed at belittling Taiwan’s sovereignty, the council said.
While Beijing has claimed that the new cards will provide Taiwanese residents in China with better access to public services, the council said that it is part of Beijing’s “united front” strategy, and would only benefit China’s agenda.
Photo: CNA
China is being irresponsible, because it has ignored public concerns over the risks card applicants might face, the council said, calling on Beijing to withdraw its “political ploy” and instead contribute to peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait.
The council has warned Taiwanese against risks to personal privacy, particularly in light of Beijing’s efforts to create a vast network of surveillance cameras and facial recognition systems as a means of social control.
The council said that it will try to find out more about the differences between the new cards, and the temporary residence cards issued to Taiwanese working and living in China.
Photo: CNA
Electronic terminals at railway stations, airports, banks and other places will be able to read the cards, making life easier for cardholders who are studying and working in China, the Chinese State Council has said.
Taiwanese do not need to have household registration in China to apply for the new card, but should have resided in China for more than six months, and must have a stable job and a place of residence.
Taiwan Democracy Watch yesterday in a statement said that by differentiating between household registrations and places of residence, Beijing is attempting to circumvent Article 9-1 of 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 ), which stipulates: “The people of the Taiwan Area may not have household registrations in the Mainland Area or hold passports issued by the Mainland Area.”
Beijing would gradually force international organizations, and foreign governments and businesses to require Taiwanese to present the new cards on different occasions, forcing Taiwanese to call themselves People’s Republic of China citizens, and thereby claim jurisdiction over Taiwanese, the group said.
The government should restrict or revoke the civic rights of those who apply for the new cards, treat them as dual citizens or enact a separate law to regulate their status, it added.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS