Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Lai Ching-te/Facebook
A PROPOSAL from the Ministry of the Interior would require Chinese spouses of Taiwanese applying for permanent residency in Taiwan to provide a notarized certificate showing that they do not have or are not applying for a Chinese passport, as well as that they have already given up their Chinese passport. This proves the latest move by the Lai administration to tighten legal regulations applying to Chinese spouses of Taiwanese residing in Taiwan.
Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area does not allow Chinese spouses of Taiwanese to hold either Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport. The Lai administration moved earlier this year to enforce such laws, which were already on the books, to require Chinese spouses of Taiwanese to provide proof of having given up their Chinese household registration if they wished to keep their permanent residency in Taiwan. Such laws had been on the books since 2004, but were not enforced until then.
Over 140,000 Chinese spouses of Taiwanese were affected by the move. According to the Lai administration, by July 20th, 6,569 Chinese spouses submitted proof of having given up their Chinese household registration. 4,287 Chinese spouses qualified for deferrals or exemptions, such as not being able to travel due to illness or injury, or possibly being unable to travel to China due to political reasons. Chinese publisher Li Yan-he, better known by his pen name of Fucha, is currently imprisoned by China after traveling there to give up his household registration after marriage to a Taiwanese person. Only ten Chinese spouses reportedly chose to instead give up their Taiwanese household registration.
This new move regarding Chinese passports is not as significant as the Lai administration’s previous move. Namely, a Chinese household registration is required to hold a Chinese passport. Eventually, Chinese spouses with permanent residency in Taiwan would have lost their Chinese passports. But the Lai administration would be aiming to close a loophole, as well as speed up the process of Chinese permanent residents of Taiwan losing their passports.
At the same time, it is clear that the Lai administration continues to view Chinese spouses in Taiwan as a demographic it has to continue to take actions against. The Lai administration has generally framed its actions as for the securitization of Taiwanese society. There have long been concerns in Taiwan about the potential of Chinese in Taiwan to act as a fifth column in wartime, existing uncomfortably alongside pluralistic views about immigrants to Taiwanese society.
Likewise, the Lai administration is apparently emboldened to continue with actions regarding Chinese spouses even after the defeat of the recall vote last month. Some have suggested that the failure of the “Great Recall Movement” was the increasingly polarized rhetoric in Taiwanese society, which the Lai administration leaned into in attacks against the KMT.
The KMT has traditionally positioned itself as the defender of the interests of Chinese spouses in Taiwan. The TPP, too, has one political candidate who is originally a Chinese national before acquiring Taiwanese nationality and who, rather controversially, may eventually take up a seat in the legislature representing the party, with concerns raised about allegations that she is a former member of the CCP. The KMT more generally hopes to frame itself as defending the interests of Chinese spouses, in order that they will serve as a demographic that backs the party. The KMT has also been known to publicly attack Chinese spouses of Taiwanese whom it perceives as backing the DPP, regardless of the dangers that they may face as a result.
But one notes that, in spite of criticisms about the charged partisan rhetoric of the recall season, the issue of Chinese spouses largely did not become a major one. Certainly, the KMT leaned into the issue as part of its campaigning, but it was an ancillary issue among many others.
It may be this that leads the Lai administration to continue with such measures. Regardless, this broadly does show that the Lai administration will continue with measures aimed at securitizing Taiwanese society, irrespective of the recall outcome.