Taiwan must consider Chinese residency status a form of Chinese citizenship or risk becoming a local government subordinate to Beijing, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said on Sunday.
Beijing on Sept. 1 began implementing a regulation that makes some Taiwanese eligible for Chinese residency cards, which would incorporate cardholders into the same identification system used for Chinese citizens.
Asked about the policy, Kuan, who is head of a DPP policy group on the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee, said that lawmakers and officials have been informally discussing denaturalization of those who register for the cards.
Taiwan’s passivity could be seen as consenting to Chinese rule, should Beijing make the additional legal claim that it authorizes local governments and special administrative regions to regulate residency status, she said.
Proposals under discussion include canceling the National Health Insurance subscription of cardholders or other types of warnings before denaturalization, Kuan said, adding that some see immediate denaturalization as overly draconian.
While Beijing is targeting Taiwanese students with the residency cards, Kuan said sources have told her that the Chinese government aims to have 80 percent of Taiwanese businesspeople in China registered as residents before the end of this year.
“If we do nothing, the worst-case scenario is that 600,000 Taiwanese would obtain residency status in China,” Kuan said.
Strict regulation is necessary to protect Taiwanese entrepreneurs and to avoid showing weakness to Beijing that would invite further encroachment, she said.
The committee was to deliberate the issue in a meeting last week that was canceled and has not been rescheduled, she added.
“Lawmakers believe it would be wise to talk about this issue after the Executive Yuan has determined what to do,” Kuan said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration have been strategizing a response and that the issue is “no less important than pension reform.”
Although DPP lawmakers have exchanged their views with Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), cross-strait relations is the prerogative of the president and Premier William Lai (賴清德), he said.
“The Cabinet needs to discuss the issue internally before coming up with a coherent response, but we do hope this will happen soon,” Ker said, adding that Lai’s next legislative report is scheduled for Friday and that the party would have to make its position known.
Legally, taking action against Taiwanese who obtain Chinese resident status would fall under the Criminal Code, the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the Act Governing 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), an anonymous official said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by