An online petition asking lawmakers to suspend the review of a draft amendment that would reduce the number of years required before Chinese spouses can obtain Taiwanese citizenship garnered 10,000 endorsements just 12 hours after it was posted.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proposed allowing Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship after four years of marriage, rather than six.
The petition to stop the proposed amendment was launched by Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), a doctor at Cheng Ching Hospital’s thoracic surgery division.
Photo: Taipei Times
“I saw many people talk about the bill online and was furious about it. I was worried that if the bill was passed, it would exacerbate the strain on medical resources available to patients in Taiwan,” Tu said yesterday.
He and fellow medical professionals have seen many Chinese spouses bring their relatives from China to hospital emergency rooms, asking for full-body checkups, Tu said.
“They [Chinese spouses] even tell their relatives that healthcare in Taiwan is free and is easily accessible, and that healthcare providers in Taiwan would not deny a request for a full-body checkup,” Tu said, adding these are not isolated cases.
Given staffing shortages in medical institutions across the country, lawmakers should think twice before proposing an amendment that could affect the medical resources available to the public, he said.
“I will send the petition, as well as relevant appeals to lawmakers at the legislature’s Internal Administration [Committee], as well as its Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee and urge them to halt the review,” Tu said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the draft quickly drew opposition from young people as it was introduced when China unilaterally adjusted the M503 aviation route and boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat following the deaths of two Chinese who were being chased by Taiwan’s coast guard on Feb. 14.
“Another issue is equality,” Wu said, as foreigners are required to renounce their original citizenship to acquire Taiwanese citizenship, but the Beijing government does not agree to Chinese giving up their citizenship.
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