Premier Sean Chen today said Taiwan's immigrants, who are largely foreign spouses, are vital to maintaining a sound population structure and healthy labor market in the country and are also shouldering family care and social service duties. He encouraged citizens to understand, accept and respect immigrants and help make Taiwan a more harmonious multi-cultural society.
Chen's remarks came after a briefing by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on assistance and guidance to immigrants. "More immigrants come to Taiwan every day, and the government should not only help them ease into life here but also lend them a helping hand in attaining employment, job training, healthcare insurance and education for their children," he said. He instructed the MOI to continue implementing programs that have made immigrants' lives in Taiwan easier.
- The premier indicated the government must step up its efforts in the following areas and called for collaboration from all relevant agencies to safeguard immigrants' rights:
- Improving local governments' administrative systems for providing services to immigrants
- Enhancing education of immigrants' offspring
- Promoting multiculturalism
- Establishing a system for accrediting education received abroad
- Bolstering immigrants' employment opportunities
- Setting up regular budgets for immigrant services
Chen also highlighted the linguistic advantage immigrants' children enjoy, as more than 90 percent of them are taught to speak a foreign tongue by their immigrant parents. He invited his administration team to brainstorm ways to direct immigrants' offspring to best utilize this and other advantages they have—for example, by working in trade with emerging markets as adults—to enable them to make prominent contributions to the country.