Candidates from across Taiwan’s political spectrum have sought to woo new immigrant voters in the Nov. 26 local government elections with campaign trail promises such as dedicated administrative offices and free career advice.
The three leading contenders in Taipei’s mayoral race have sought to offer remedies to the problems faced by naturalized foreign nationals.
At a campaign event on Oct. 15, ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominee Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) pledged to set up offices in each of the capital’s districts dedicated to new immigrant affairs.
The former health minister also vowed to make Dec. 18 “new immigrants day” as well as hold citywide events to mark significant cultural days.
Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has likewise promised to reorganize new immigrant-related responsibilities — currently split across a patchwork of Department of Civil Affairs subsections — into a new standalone body.
Meanwhile, independent Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) stressed the importance of providing integrated resources for new immigrant families, including healthcare services for elderly immigrants.
Huang said she would focus on developing a “new immigrant economy” in Taipei, giving the designation of city blocks for use as multicultural markets as an example.
Outside the capital, runners and riders of all stripes have similarly latched on to proposals to set up separate government units devoted to new immigrant issues.
In Taichung, the DPP’s mayoral candidate Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) has suggested giving cash rewards to new immigrants to encourage them to obtain professional certification, while the ruling party’s contender in Hsinchu City Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) has pledged free career training.
The DPP’s Hsu Ting-chen (徐定禎) in Miaoli County and Huang Shiou-fang (黃秀芳) in Changhua County have similarly targeted new immigrant votes with proposals for free legal and career consultations.
Employment help has also been part of Frida Tsai’s (蔡培慧) electoral pitch in Nantou County, with the DPP candidate laying out policies such as interest-free loans for new immigrants who want to start their own businesses.
Meanwhile, the KMT’s Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) in Keelung proposed giving new immigrants government subsidies to study Mandarin to reduce culture shock and help them assimilate better.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, there were around 570,000 new immigrants in Taiwan as of December 2021, accounting for roughly 2.4 percent of Taiwan’s population.
A majority of them (65 percent) were from China (including Hong Kong and Macau), followed by Vietnam (20 percent) and Indonesia (5 percent).
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel