The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it would amend 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) to deal with the issue of Taiwanese citizens holding Chinese residency permits.
China has used these residency permits to muddle the issue of national identity on either side of the Taiwan Strait and as a tool for integration, the council said in a written statement.
The Chinese Communist Party has used Taiwanese entities to promote these residency cards and other Chinese identity documents, it said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The statement was in response to remarks earlier yesterday by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮), who said that “Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] officials” are responsible for the confusion about China’s residency card and Taiwanese compatriot card.
DPP officials have done this to disrupt, Zhu said at a news conference in Beijing, alleging that the Taiwanese government seeks to threaten and intimidate Taiwanese.
Taiwanese have been allowed to apply for China’s residency permits since 2018, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference on Thursday last week.
Although there are conditions for applying for such a permit, such as residing in China for at least half a year or being gainfully employed, the Chinese government has loosened restrictions to attract more interest, Liang said.
The government needs to respond to this, he added.
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