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Chinese
immigrants in Taiwan on Nov 27, 2004 TSU says shouldn't be citizens By
Debby Wu The TSU caucus said that it would demand that the government not issue
identity cards to Chinese immigrants under any cicumstances, but instead the
immigrants should only be given Taiwanese "green cards," which would
grant them the right to stay and all basic human rights -- except citizenship. TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming said that the caucus would propose amending
the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the
Mainland Area to achieve this goal. Chen said that more and more Chinese women were coming to Taiwan and
marrying Taiwanese men. According to Chen, there have already been 186,318 Chinese women applying
to come to Taiwan due to their marital status, and so far more than 110,000 had
succeeded in coming to Taiwan, while 10,063 have obtained identity cards. "If these women all get identity cards within the next ten years, and
they enjoy the right to vote, the roughly 190,000 votes are enough to support
four lawmakers in a legislative election," Chen said. "Thus, Beijing would be able to manipulate Taiwan's elections, and
candidates who are friendly to China will propound platforms against Taiwan's
best interests," Chen said. Chen also said that compared with other major countries, Taiwan was the
only country in the world that allowed the people of its enemy to visit. Chen also urged the government to adopt different policies to deal with
immigrants from different countries. He then said that the TSU caucus would promote the creation of a Taiwanese
equivalent of the US' "green card," so that when Chinese immigrants
were given the cards, they would enjoy healthcare, freedom of movement and other
basic rights, but would be excluded from the citizen's right to vote, to work in
the public sector and so on. But some women's groups do not share the TSU's hostile sentiments toward
Chinese immigrants. Awakening Foundation Secretary-General Tseng Chao-yuan said that Chinese
women should be treated just like any other immigrants and enjoy the same
rights. Tseng said that Premier Yu Shyi-kun once said that Chinese should be
considered as foreigners, but that Chinese were actually treated differently
from other foreigners. "The government allows people to marry Chinese, yet it ignores their
marriage rights, and is trying to deprive Chinese spouses of the right to live
in this land. The right of a citizen is an important right in one's life,"
Tseng said. Tseng said that the TSU's hypothesis about the hostility between Taiwan and
China was understandable, but it was really "not necessary" to
discriminate Chinese spouses from others. MAC says TSU's immigrant fears are unnecessary THREAT?: By Joy Su
Responding to concerns regarding the naturalization of Chinese spouses in
Taiwan, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it saw no reason to be
overly concerned about the voting patterns of the group, saying it did not pose
as a threat to national security. "It takes upwards of 8 years for Chinese spouses to be issued a
National Identification Card [and voting rights]. In that period of time, they
will experience life in a democratic society. If after eight years they have not
changed at all, then the government should reflect on what it needs to be doing
better for the Chinese spouses," MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san said
yesterday. Chiu was responding to a Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) press conference
that had raised concerns regarding the naturalization of the roughly 190,000
Chinese spouses currently living in Taiwan. Chiu said that while he understood the TSU's concern about national
security, he did not think that giving voting rights to Chinese spouses amounted
to any sort of security threat. He said that there was little likelihood that
many members of the group would decide to run for office or take the civil
service examination. He also addressed TSU fears that naturalized Chinese spouses had enough
votes to put four legislators into office. "You have to subtract about one-fifth of the number of Chinese spouses
from the total, given the number of fake marriages. Also, Chinese spouses are
dispersed throughout Taiwan. We are also creating single-member-voting districts
in the future," Chiu said.
Meanwhile, a group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday
said the idea of denying citizenship to Chinese spouses of local residents ran
counter to the notion of upholding human rights. KMT Legislator Chiang Chi-wen asked
whether Taiwan could still be considered a democratic country if the legislature
were indeed to amend the relevant laws to deny Chinese spouses full citizenship.
"If lawmakers harbor hostility toward certain groups of people, then
marginalization and hatred will prevail in Taiwan society," Chiang claimed.
She added that an individual's rights protected by the nation's laws or the
Constitution should not be infringed upon for political reasons. KMT Legislator Chu Fong-chi said that Taiwan must emulate advanced Western
countries in the treatment of "new immigrants." Chu urged legislators as well as government workers to be broad-minded
toward the nation's new citizens. "So long as the new immigrants recognize Taiwan as their new home, we
should welcome them with open arms," he added. Editorial: Taiwan already on the world stage On
the McDonald's Corporation's Web site, both Taiwan and Hong Kong are identified
as a country, while China is missing. Many other corporations -- including Audi,
Mercedes-Benz, GM and Siemens -- list Taiwan as a country. This is just a simple
situation that tallies with business operations. But Chinese media believe that
Taiwan cannot be taken as a "country," since this word refers to an
independent nation with its own sovereignty. With Chinese nationalism, it's hard to know whether to laugh or despair.
For example, consumers worldwide are familiar with products labeled "Made
in Taiwan" (MIT). MIT products represent good quality and cheap prices,
especially IT products. However, if labeled "Made in China," the
quality they represent may be much lower. It's a given that Taiwan, Hong Kong and China are all official members of
the WTO. In the situation in today's global market, China's actions against
Taiwan's sovereignty go against most people's understanding, because they are
unnecessary and appalling. Not only has China's rigid and inflexible policy oppressed Taiwan, but it
has also squeezed Hong Kong. After its handover in 1997, the territory's
political independence it used to enjoy under the British disappeared, and its
control over its own economic and trade affairs shrank. This has destroyed the
Hong Kong people's confidence in Beijing's policy of "one country, two
systems." No wonder, despite numerous disagreements, the ruling and opposition camps
in Taiwan are united in their rejection of "one country, two systems."
As far as politics is concerned, the world cannot differentiate between the
Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). When it comes
to China and Taiwan, it is acknowledged that these are countries ruled by two
different governments. On Wednesday, 47 Democratic Party members of the Japanese
Diet convened a conference to voice support for Taiwan's democratization and
liberalization. They agreed to facilitate a visit to Japan by former president
Lee Teng-hui and declared respect and support for Taiwan's domestic opinions
about its constitutional reform, national title rectification and other issues.
This example shows that although Taiwan faces many obstacles on the
international stage, such as being unable to join international organizations
due to pressure from China, it still has many supporters and sympathizers in
Japan, the US and Europe. President Chen Shui-bian announced Thursday that he would make his bid for
UN membership under the title of "Taiwan" from next year. We applaud
this announcement. Taiwan's government used to be constrained by convention and
insisted on applying for UN membership under the title of "Republic of
China." But the ROC's seat in the UN was taken by China in 1971 under UN
Resolution 2758, so to seek membership as the ROC, after 12 previous failures,
would seem to be a deadend. Taiwan should try new strategies. Applying as Taiwan
not only follows the model of its APEC and WTO membership, it also clearly
distinguishes between Taiwan and the PRC. This application for membership is not
related to UN Resolution 2758, and even if its bid fails, at least Taiwan will
have succeeded in increasing its visibility on the international stage. If the two sides of the Taiwan Strait wish to maintain peace and stability,
they should delineate the boundaries of the battlefield but not engage in total
war. Clearly separating politics and economics and allowing mutual exchanges in
the private sector to remain untrammeled by the issue of sovereignty is probably
the most surefire model. If everything gets tied up in a Web of nationalism,
then neither side of the strait will be able to act. Taiwan `regrets' Japan's stance on sub COUNTER-CLAIMS: Tokyo said it knew nothing
about Chen Shui-bian's claims that Taipei had detected a Chinese submarine. The
Presidential office said that was too bad Questioned by a Diet member at the House of Representatives Thursday
whether Japan received reports from Taiwan about the submarine, Ichiro Aisawa,
vice minister of foreign affairs, said "there is no such matter." "We express regret [over the denial]. Japan said this because it has
its own concerns," Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang
said. "China is expanding its military power on a massive scale and
frequently invades other countries' territorial waters. For its neighboring
countries, such as Taiwan and Japan, the main task at hand is to work together
to maintain regional security and a balance of power," Su told reporters. The official declined to comment when asked whether Japan denied it
received information on the submarine from Taiwan out of fear of China. President Chen Shui-bian said that Taiwan alerted Japan about the intruding
Chinese submarine during a meeting with Reijiro Hattori, the chairman of the
Japanese Interchange Association, at the Presidential Office last week. "We are very honored that Taiwan could, in advance, provide related
information to Japan and the United States," he told Hattori. "We believe Japan feels the threat from China just as Taiwan
does," Chen said. "This shows that Japan, the US and Taiwan share the
same interest in safeguarding the security of the Asia-Pacific region." Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's representative to Japan, mentioned Taiwan's offer of
intelligence regarding the submarine in his speech given at a conference held by
the Japan-Taiwan Security and Economic Research Association Wednesday, according
to the Central News Agency. Koh told the association, consisting of 47 Taiwan-friendly Diet members,
that Taiwan detected the activities of the Chinese submarine. Taiwan informed Japan of the intruding submarine, but Japan denied it
received the report "probably because of its concerns about China,"
Koh said. Koh stressed that the submarine incident revealed that Taiwan and Japan are
under similar threats from China and that both sides need to establish security
dialogue. Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Chang Jung-kung
yesterday urged Chen to explain how Taiwan could have provided information about
the submarine to Japan so as to "maintain the dignity of the country."
He said Japan's denial of Taiwan's help hurts the nation. "Japan has advanced anti-submarine aircraft, which are almost as good
as those owned by the US. Taiwan does not have such anti-submarine warfare
equipment. How could it be possible that we found the submarine and Japan did
not?" Chang asked. Rice will play an important role By
Lin Cheng-yi The New York Times editorial has called her a friend of Bush and
pointed out that she should tell Bush what he needs, not what he wants, to hear.
Although both Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are more
experienced than Rice in national security matters, she is closer to Bush than
they are. Rice will be replaced by Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley,
who has a background as a lawyer. Although Bush has called Hadley intelligent
and said he possesses good judgement, Hadley has long held a low profile and is
known as a reliable bureaucrat who works long hours, without the strategic
thinking of a Rice, Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski or Henry Kissinger. Although the opinions of Rice and Rumsfeld may differ, Rice might remain
the core of the national security team in Bush's second term. Before Rice was appointed as national security adviser in October 2000, she
said that China is not the keeper of the Asian status quo, but rather that it is
causing a change in the balance of power. This means problems and trouble,
because it is waiting for an opportunity to change the status quo to meet the
requirements of its own national interests. Rice pointed out that the question of whether China will succeed in
controlling the Asian power balance will depend on the US response, and that the
US, apart from strengthening its cooperation with Japan and South Korea, must
pay attention to the role India can play in the regional balance. Rice advocates involving government, military and the economy when dealing
with China. In addition to restraining China's political and military power,
trade exchanges should also be used to push for domestic changes in China. Rice last visited China, Japan and South Korea in July this year, a trip
that was focused on resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. Bush has decided
that the US shall withdraw 12,500 of the US troops stationed in South Korea next
year, but Rice has stated that the administration's promise to maintain security
on the Korean Peninsula will remain unchanged. During a meeting with Japan's foreign minister, Rice said she hopes that
the US and Japan will continue to push for dialogue across the Taiwan Strait,
that the Chinese economy will become more integrated with the global economy,
and that Beijing will play a more active role in the six-nation talks on the
North Korean issue. When Rice met with the Chinese leadership in Beijing, she made six points.
First, she hoped for dialogue between Beijing and Taipei, saying that the US
would be willing to take further action if that would help realize such talks. Second, Beijing's insistence that Taiwan's acceptance of the "one
China" principle as a condition for talks was not conducive to cross-strait
dialogue. Third, US arms sales to Taiwan are based on the Taiwan Relations Act, and
therefore there is no way of ending such sales. Fourth, the US will continue to adopt measures to keep the Chen Shui-bian
government from moving towards Taiwan independence. Fifth, the US respects the "one China" policy, stands firmly by
the three joint Sino-US communiques, and hopes that there will not be any
instability in the Taiwan Strait. Sixth, the US sees China as a partner for cooperation, is willing to
maintain high-level dialogue with Beijing, and wants to deepen cooperation in
the areas of trade, anti-proliferation and North Korean nuclear arms. Rice was deeply impressed by Beijing's negative view of Chen's May 20
inauguration speech, which clearly differs from the US view. She also found
debate on how to treat Taiwan is still going on in China, and that views varied.
While Powell's views could never fully reflect Bush's views, when Rice talks, it
carries a different kind of authority. Rice will continue to push for cross-strait dialogue after taking over as
secretary of state. If Taipei continues to show its willingness to enter into
dialogue with Beijing on the condition that the "one China" principle
is not made a precondition for talks, it should be possible to maintain the
current situation without coming under too much pressure from the US. We must, however, face up to the differences that do exist between the
views of Taipei and the US when it comes to the three direct links and
amendments to the constitution. Lin Cheng-yi is director of the Institute of European and American Studies
at Academia Sinica.
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