Lawmakers late on Tuesday passed a basic act governing “new residents” to facilitate their integration into Taiwanese society, in addition to authorizing a special commission to be created under the Executive Yuan.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators renamed the bill, which was originally to be called the “new residents’ rights protection act” and changed some provisions after negotiations broke down.
TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Monday said that the opposition bloc rejected a deal it inked with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government to protest being accused of “red scare” tactics.
Photo: CNA
The motion to rename and amend the bill passed in a vote along party lines following an evening session at the Legislative Yuan.
The new residents’ bill — which would apply to foreigners, stateless people, and residents of China, Hong Kong and Macau who have long-term or permanent residency in Taiwan via work, possession of valuable skills or investment, as well as foreigners married to permanent residents or Taiwanese and their children — would protect their rights, help them integrate and promote a multicultural society in which all groups prosper.
The Ministry of the Interior is to implement the legislation and establish a level-three government apparatus to oversee new resident affairs and services, including education, employment, care and language training, the bill says.
It mandates the government to provide new immigrants with multilingual services, medical care, guidance for adapting to life in Taiwan, assistance for their children’s education, and protect their personal safety and workplace rights.
Local governments are to create family services centers to advise immigrants on family needs, marriage and childrearing, and to provide legal and mental health resources, it says.
The central government should provide language-learning resources, career consultation and measures facilitating attainment of vocational certificates, it says.
The government is authorized to subsidize media representations of new residents’ culture and language, academic studies on immigrants, and measures to train immigrants in economically valuable skills, it says.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) expressed reservations about the bill, saying that substituting the legal category of people residing in China, Hong Kong and Macau would conflict with other laws.
Naming it a basic act implies that it would subsume the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), MAC Deputy Minister Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told lawmakers during a previous question-and-answer session.
More than 65 percent of people who fit the description of “new residents” are Chinese spouses married to Taiwanese, Liang said.
Another official, commenting on condition of anonymity, said that the bill would benefit Chinese immigrants, but crowd out resources intended to recruit foreign professionals.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) in a news release thanked lawmakers for passing the bill and said that it would bolster immigrant workforce participation, the availability of translation services and access to public media.
The bill expands the definition of new residents to include people who obtained residency as a highly skilled worker or due to their occupation, Liu said.
The Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with local governments is to oversee a nationwide effort to review existing legislation to make it more friendly to new residents, he said.
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
CHIPS AND DEFENSE: Trump said the US had lost its chip business and Taipei should pay it for defense, and added that ‘we’re no different than an insurance company’ Taiwan-US relations are solid, and both sides are in agreement that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are everyone’s concern, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday following comments by former US president Donald Trump that Taiwan “should pay” for US defense. Taiwan is thankful to the US for supporting Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations, Cho told a news conference in Taipei. “I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump told Bloomberg on June 25 in an interview that was published on Tuesday. “I think
SHOW OF SUPPORT: Taiwan has been one of the largest buyers of US defense equipment, supporting American businesses and jobs, US lawmakers said Taiwan has been paying for its own defense, a US Department of State official said on Wednesday, adding that purchases of military equipment are important to the US economy and for ensuring regional security. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked at a news conference about comments by former US president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US presidential election, who said during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay Washington for its defense needs. “The purchases that they [Taiwan] have made not only are important, we believe, to regional security, but are important to the United States economy,”
SECURITY CONCERNS: An FBI agent said it was surprising that the shooter, whose motive remains unknown, was able to open fire before the Secret Service killed him On the heels of an apparent attempt to kill him, former US president Donald Trump yesterday called for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide recoiled from the shooting that left him injured, but “fine,” and the shooter and a rally-goer dead. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place,” he