More than 40 Chinese spouses, the Alliance for Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants (AHRLIM), the Awakening Foundation and other organizations demonstrated yesterday outside the Taipei Guest House, saying that a lack of human rights and domestic and marriage legislation were turning them into second-class citizens.
They demanded that the Act Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) be amended so they could enjoy the same human rights as other foreign spouses.
Tseng Chao-yuan (曾昭媛), Awakening Foundation secretary-general, said there were about 98,000 Chinese spouses residing in Taiwan, but that they have to wait for 10 years before they can obtain citizenship, unlike other foreign spouses who are eligible after four years.
PHOTO: CNA
Hsia Hsiao-chuan (夏曉鵑), associate professor in Shih Hsin University’s Graduate Institute for Social Transformation Studies, said that although Taiwan was a country that respected human rights, Chinese spouses were discriminated against. adding that international conventions on women’s rights state that foreign spouses should enjoy basic human rights protection in their new country.
Zheng Xiaowen (鄭曉文), who has lived in Taiwan for five years, said that many Chinese spouses experienced economic problems, because they do not have the right to work, which means if their spouse dies and they have no children, or if they divorce because of domestic violence, the Chinese spouse has to return to China.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) yesterday authorized the execution of convicted murderer Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), the first death row prisoner to be put to death since President William Lai (賴清德) took office. Huang was to be executed via a firing squad yesterday evening, which would leave Taiwan with 36 convicts on death row. Huang on Oct. 1, 2013, broke into his ex-girlfriend Wang Ping-chih’s (王品智) residence in New Taipei City, where he raped and murdered Wang. He also killed Wang’s mother. Huang was bitter over the breakup and her accusation that he had stolen NT$200,000 (US$6,074) from her bank account, prosecutors said
RSS