Council of Labor Affairs Minister Wang Ju-hsuan (王如玄) said yesterday that regulations governing the working rights of Chinese spouses of Taiwanese should be relaxed if the country is to treat this group fairly.
Wang said that since Chinese spouses are “daughters-in-law of Taiwanese elders” and mothers of Taiwanese children, they should be granted the same rights as people from other countries who are married to Taiwanese.
This means that Chinese spouses should be able to obtain work permits immediately after they are granted resident status, Wang said.
Speaking to the media at the legislature, she said social activists and Chinese spouses have long sought a relaxation of work restrictions.
Under the current law, Chinese spouses have to wait at least six years after marriage before they can obtain permission to work.
Noting that any change to the regulations will require amending the Statute Governing the 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), Wang said she believed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus would support the amendments.
She also said the Democratic Progressive Party has not strenuously opposed the proposal.
Wang said once the Mainland Affairs Council approves the amended policy, the council would follow it.
Wang said she was not particularly worried that the proposed amendment might reduce job opportunities for Taiwanese, given that only about 20,000-odd Chinese spouses, of the total 300,000, are currently eligible to work.
Besides, most of the Chinese spouses currently working are employed as caregivers or in the service sector at businesses such as restaurants, she said.
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,
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
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
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
RSS