Holding a banner reading "UN for Taiwan" in front of the Executive Yuan, hundreds of foreign spouses yesterday expressed their doubts over the country's qualifications to be accepted by the world body because of its record of discrimination against immigrants.
They urged the government to scrap regulations that require foreign spouses of Taiwanese applying for naturalization to meet minimum financial requirements.
"A country without human rights is not entitled to enter the UN. Give [immigrants] back [their] basic human rights before talking about UN membership," Hsia Hsiao-chuan (
PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP
When applying for citizenship, foreign spouses must meet health examinations requirements, have been in the country for a minimum period of time, relinquish their original citizenship, meet financial qualifications and pass a Chinese-language test.
As proof of their financial status, the Immigration Law (移民法) requires that applicants prove they can earn at least double the minimum wage -- or NT$410,000 (US$12,000) a year -- or have the same amount in deposits.
"The reason to abolish financial proof is simple enough. It is discrimination and it is against human rights," said Hou Hsiao-hsien (
Liao Yuan-hao (廖元豪), a law professor at National Chengchi University, slammed the rationale behind a policy that says immigrants who unable to prove their financial ability would be a financial burden to the country.
"Didn't our ancestors come to Taiwan from impoverished China without financial proof? To discriminate against new immigrants based on their financial status is to discriminate against our ancestors," Liao said.
"If the government worries immigrants cannot get by without financial proof, it should grant immigrants the right to work in the country and [provide] social relief programs," Liao said.
Liao was referring to the fact that foreign spouses are prohibited from working and are not covered by social relief programs before receiving citizenship.
Yuan Hsiao-li (袁曉麗), a Chinese national who married a Taiwanese three years ago, said she encountered limitations on so many levels while living in Taiwan.
"Taiwan is a country that often takes pride in the value of freedom and democracy, but I don't feel that the government treats us in an open and tolerant manner," she said.
The protest was organized by the Coalition against Financial Requirements for Immigrations and supported and dozens of civil organizations including the Association to Promote Marriage Across the Strait, the Hope Workers' Center and the TransAsia Sisters Association.
They also staged a protest outside the National Immigration Agency and vowed to launch a massive demonstration should the government fail to positively respond to their demands by the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 25.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS