A group of DPP legislators yesterday urged the government to reassess its immigration policy in a bid to prevent foreign spouses from abusing the system and generating social problems in the country.
"Given the culture and language differences, many foreign brides find it hard to assimilate into Taiwanese society," DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (湯火聖) said at a joint press conference held with colleagues Chien Chao-tong (簡肇棟), Lin Yu-sheng (林育生) and Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬).
"As a result, a social storm is slowly taking shape in Taiwan with issues concerning their children's education, property inheritance, broken homes and the like," Tang said.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The legislators said many Southeast Asian brides, casting greedy eyes on Taiwan's comfortable living, have taken advantage of the nation's lax immigration rules to gain citizenship and thus enjoy all the rights and benefits citizens enjoy such as national health insurance and social welfare.
"Such cases are especially frequent with foreign brides from Vietnam, who blatantly ignore law and order but seek immigration loopholes to earn citizenship not just for themselves but also for their kin back home," Tang said.
According to Tang, there are numerous cases of Vietnamese spouses who, after obtaining citizenship through marriage to Taiwanese, demand an immediate divorce. They then remarry Vietnamese laborers working here before taking them, along with kin from Vietnam, to apply for citizenship in this country.
"This is not only unjust to Taiwanese husbands victimized by these marriages, but these cases also generate many tricky issues such as broken homes, children's education, property inheritance and the like," Chien said, urging the government to heighten its immigration regulations to prevent false marriages, especially as numerous foreign spouses have in the past turned out to be prostitutes.
Su also urged the government to strengthen its consultation services for foreign brides to help them to become more acquainted with the country.
According to a report presented by Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) at a Cabinet meeting last month, as of the end of last year, more than 87,000 foreign women had married Taiwanese.
In terms of nationality, Vietnamese formed the largest group of foreign brides, totaling 42,713 at the end of last year, followed by Indonesians at 10,662.
Other countries who have at least 1,000 women married to Taiwanese men were Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS