DPP Legislators have proposed an amendment to the Cross-Strait Act, which will bring the requirements for naturalized Chinese spouses in line with current stipulations for other foreign nationals as per the Nationality Act.
As the topic of Chinese spouses’ national identity and naturalization has become a flashpoint in politics, DPP Legislators Wang Ting-Yu (王定宇) and Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) have proposed the amendment detailing that Chinese spouses who have established household registration in Taiwan should renounce their Chinese citizenship to obtain a Taiwan ID, as is in line with the Nationality Act.
Currently, there is still ongoing legal debate as to whether the nationality law applies to Chinese nationals. While the Cabinet made an announcement in 2023 stating that Chinese nationals are not counted among Taiwanese nationals, neither the Cross-Strait Act nor the Nationality Act has yet been officially amended by the Legislature to reflect this.
In an interview with the Legislature’s Interior Affairs Committee on Monday, Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that the amendments are a direction worth looking into. She pointed out that regardless of whether international or cross-strait, issues of naturalization are bound to cause disputes. Liu continued by saying that if the ruling and opposition parties come to a consensus, the ministry will look into it accordingly.