Dozens of activists yesterday gathered in front of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) building to protest against the government’s failure to protect the rights and benefits of about 2,000 “Republic of China (ROC) nationals without citizenship” living in Taiwan.
Tsai Chung-li (蔡忠理), an ROC national without citizenship, has lived and worked in Taiwan for more than 10 years. He is one of the many people born in the Philippines who hold Taiwanese passports but do not have legal residence status in Taiwan.
Workers such as Tsai, although in possession of ROC passports, are denied legal residence status because the government does not view them as “Taiwanese” and therefore denies them national ID cards. They are mostly born and raised in the Philippines, but hold ROC passports because their parents are ethnic Chinese.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Tsai’s arm was severed in November last year when it was pulled into a machine at a factory where he worked. However, because his employer did not insure the company’s workers as dictated by labor regulations, Tsai said he could not receive labor insurance compensation and occupational injury compensation that he would have received as a citizen.
Although labor regulations protect such uninsured workers by entitling them to apply for compensation in the event they become disabled from an occupational injury, Tsai’s legal status means he is denied such protection.
“It has been a year since my injury, but I have not received NT$1 in compensation for my arm,” said Tsai, adding that he hoped the labor insurance bureau would take a good look at the problems facing workers like him.
Lorna Kung (龔尤倩), executive director of the Scalabrini International Migration Network in Taiwan and consultant to the Taiwan International Workers Association (TIWA), said there were about 2,000 ROC nationals without citizenship living in Taiwan. Because they are denied legal status to live in Taiwan, they must leave the country for at least one day every six months to renew their visas.
The association urged the government to extend labor rights and benefits to such nationals.
The council said officials would look into the matter and process Tsai’s case as soon as possible. It also said all employers must insure their workers under the national labor insurance plan, regardless of citizenship.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we