Vietnamese immigrant Hu Ching-hsien (胡清嫻) gained recognition for her contributions to the Southeast Asian community in Taiwan after she was asked by the Presidential Office late last month to serve as national immigration policy adviser to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Hu said she will begin gathering more feedback from the immigrant community after the Lunar New Year holiday, adding that she will make suggestions to the president based on the feedback.
Hu came to Taiwan 11 years ago through marriage and has since been active in encouraging fellow newcomers to interact with their adopted communities.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
Hu said she had been looking for a change of environment and a chance for happiness when she met her husband 11 years ago and subsequently moved to Taiwan.
Hu said she and her husband have two children attending second and fourth grade at elementary school, adding that she had been a homemaker since her marriage, taking care of household work and her children.
“I supported my husband at home, studied languages and later received certificates for cooking, teaching of my mother language and for legal interpretation,” Hu said, adding that she is teaching at the Pingtung Haohao Women’s Rights Association.
Hu said that over the past several years, during which time she has been working with immigrant spouses, she has discovered several cases of domestic abuse and human trafficking, adding that she has encouraged victims to come forward about the abuses and to integrate into their communities.
Hu said she has also been active in teaching about multiculturalism in schools and within community organizations.
She said her greatest concern is government policy related to the integration of new immigrants into their communities, adding that she will join non-governmental organizations to tackle the issue.
Hu said she has worked with the association for three years on a quarterly publication aimed at supporting immigrant spouses from Southeast Asia, adding that she will share information about the publication with the president when she sends her policy suggestions.
“I hope the publication can become more influential and reach more people,” Hu said.
Hu said she hopes the government’s “new southbound policy” can view immigrant spouses as “foreign relations angels,” adding that the spouses have vast knowledge of both Taiwan and their birth nations.
Hu said she feels honored by the opportunity to be a consultant to the government, adding that the position will make her much more capable as a spokesperson for the immigrant spouse community.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to