The government on Wednesday rejected an online petition that asked to abolish a rule requiring long-term foreign residents to renounce their original nationality as a prerequisite when applying for Taiwanese citizenship.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) rejected the petition submitted by civil society organization Crossroads on Aug. 19, citing the “principle of a single-nationality system” and “taking into account the problems of our country’s small territory, dense population, limited resources and national loyalty.”
“If foreign nationals who have lived permanently for five years [in Taiwan] can naturalize without having to prove the loss of their original nationality, it might have a significant negative impact on our country’s finances, social welfare and national security,” the ministry said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of the Tourism Bureau
It also cited exceptions to the rule for “high-level professionals” and “those who have made outstanding contributions.”
The petition, which obtained 5,746 online signatures, had asked the government to “grant immigrants who have legally resided in Taiwan for more than five years as permanent residents a standardized pathway to naturalization without requiring them to renounce their original nationality.”
“Taiwan already permits millions of natural-born citizens to hold multiple nationalities and reside abroad without question,” the group said on Facebook on Wednesday. “Denying the same opportunity to naturalized citizens who live and contribute to Taiwan daily seems inconsistent.”
Taiwan’s exceptions to the rule are “too narrow” and resulted in “an average of fewer than 50 individuals per year” naturalizing as dual citizens since 2016, the group said.
“Currently, there are nearly 40,000 permanent residents, only 0.1 percent of the entire population,” Crossroads said in response to the rejection notice.
“With the population expected to shrink dramatically from its peak of 23.6 million in 2019 to approximately 15 million by 2070,” the group said, citing official statistics, Taiwan faces a “severe demographic decline” that “underscores the urgency of attracting and retaining contributors to Taiwan’s economy and society.”
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
RSS