New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday said that Chinese spouses would be able to obtain Taiwan’s identification cards in four years rather than six years if he is elected.
Hou made the pledge on International Migrants Day.
“Immigrants make Taiwan their home and lay roots here. My immigration policy is developed around the core concept that they would be able to build a home in Taiwan, with the goal of empowering them. My hope is that immigrants and the next generation of Taiwanese feel that they belong here and are free to pursue happiness,” Hou wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
If elected, Chinese spouses would receive Taiwanese identification cards in four years, the same as other foreign spouses, while pregnancy care for legal immigrants would be covered by the National Health Insurance system, he said.
His administration would review the offshore interview requirement of marriage-based migrants, and establish a national platform of interpreters to assist immigrants in accessing legal and medical services and to resolve labor disputes, he said.
“We would establish more language centers for immigrants to learn Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Hakka and indigenous languages. For the next generation, we would help develop their talents so they can help explore opportunities in Southeast Asian countries,” Hou said.
Immigrants would be allowed to take professional license exams and management-training courses, and an immigrant council would be formed to enforce his proposed immigration basic act, he said.
Hou’s campaign headquarters yesterday defended the candidate’s policy of developing the Wen Tzai Chun (塭仔圳) area — a 400-hectare property between New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang (新莊) and Taishan (泰山) districts — and offering a housing loan of NT$15 million (US$479,019) to young people, following criticisms from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The DPP’s housing policy is to pay landlords, rather than helping young people to buy a home, Hous’ campaign spokesperson, Wang Ming-hsu (王敏旭), said.
“Many occupational accidents have happened in Wen Tzai Chun in the past five decades. The DPP did nothing about this property when its politicians governed New Taipei City. Mayor Hou fixed up the property within two years of taking office,” Wang said.
“The housing loans we propose would help young people with stable incomes and good credit histories buy homes, and couples with double incomes would be able to quickly buy a residence to raise a family. Elderly Taiwanese would not need to use their savings to help their children buy a home anymore, and could comfortably plan for their retirements,” he said.
In other news, the New Power Party (NPP) yesterday urged the Control Yuan and prosecutors to investigate whether Hou had contravened the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) and Criminal Code for accepting illegally collected political funds from Yeangder Group while running for mayor in 2018 and last year.
NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) accused the group of asking its employees to each donate NT$100,000 on specific dates for Hou’s campaigns, with donations topping NT$11 million.
Hou’s campaign office said that all political donations are handled in accordance with the Political Donations Act.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS