The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday slammed the Mainland Affairs Council for its “near incompetence” regarding China’s new measure to issue residency cards to Taiwanese and called for more concrete countermeasures from the Taiwanese government.
“Although China unveiled the measure well before last week, the council did not state any plans to counter it until the party [on Tuesday] last week advocated amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) so that card holders would be treated the same as those with household registration in China by requiring them to report to the Taiwanese government,” NPP Legislator and party caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) told a news conference in Taipei.
Although the council finally announced on Thursday last week that card holders would be required to report to the authorities, it has yet to decide whether to suspend or cancel card holders’ household registration in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: CNA
A tougher approach and more concrete countermeasures from the government would not restrict the rights of Taiwanese living in China, but rather “offer them more bargaining chips when negotiating with Chinese authorities and prevent them from being pressured into applying for the card,” he added.
The council’s attitude toward China has been “not only timid, but nearly incompetent,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.
“Taiwanese have all been wondering what the council and the Straits Exchange Foundation have been doing. If they cannot propose any concrete countermeasures, we might as well get the Executive Yuan to put them under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
Hsu said the party would be meeting with Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) to get an idea of how many Taiwanese have applied for the card, whether Taiwanese have been forced to apply — and, if so, who are more likely to be pressured — and how the council plans to respond to China, adding that the party would share what it learns at the meeting with the public.
While Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) plans to propose a draft amendment similar to the NPP bill, Hsu said he hopes that other DPP members would also support the effort.
The Chinese State Council Information Office announced on Aug. 16 that from this month, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and Macanese who have lived in China for more than six months and are legally working, living or studying in the country would be eligible to apply for a residency card.
Card holders would be granted certain rights and benefits enjoyed by Chinese citizens, such as compulsory education, social insurance and housing subsidies.
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify