The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday suspended plans to ease permanent residency rules for professionals from Hong Kong and Macau amid criticism of the policy, which was to begin tomorrow.
“The policy has been shelved for now. More dialogue is needed with lawmakers and the public to garner general support,” MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said.
The relaxed residency rules announced on April 21 attracted objections, with critics saying that the process was rushed, and lacked proper national security and impact assessments.
The original timetable would have had the Ministry of the Interior file for public notice tomorrow to revise the Regulations
Caution is needed after the Cabinet last week approved a Mainland Affairs Council policy to relax permanent residency rules for professionals from Hong Kong and Macau, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
Under the new regulations, which are to take effect on Sunday, professionals from the territories who have had a work visa in Taiwan for at least five years and earned at least double the minimum wage in the past year can apply for permanent residency. Applicants must also have been in Taiwan for at least 183 days in each of the five years.
However, DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆)
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday demanded that the government remove businessman John Peng (彭蔭剛) from the board of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), accusing him of working as a proxy for China.
The lawmakers cited an advertisement that Peng placed in the Chinese-language China Times on Tuesday promoting Taiwan’s “peaceful unification” with China.
In his capacity as chairman of AGCMT Creation Corp, Peng claimed in the advertisement that “peaceful unification and peaceful development would shape the best future for people across the Taiwan Strait.”
In the advertisement, he outlined ways for China to win a comprehensive victory without landing any troops on
Chinese propaganda, such as a video posted online last month by a company claiming to be Taiwanese, would not find appeal among the Taiwanese public, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Tuesday.
The video portrayed a woman identified as A-chia (阿嘉) from Hsinchu sitting in front of Siluo Bridge (西螺大橋) in Yunlin County, as she pours water taken from the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) into a jar that purportedly holds water taken from China’s Yellow River. A-chia calls the action a “sacred ceremony” to bring Taiwan’s longest river “into the Mother River’s embrace.”
The video is simply another example of Chinese