The Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and the National Immigration Agency hosted a forum on Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and other policies pertaining to new immigrants on Thursday.
The Taiwanese authorities define new immigrants as persons who have obtained Taiwanese citizenship or residence through marriage or other means. It is a growing social group, already outnumbering the total population of Taiwan’s Indigenous groups.
Many government officials and representatives of immigrant communities attended the forum held at National Taiwan University in Taipei. Among them were foundation chair Hsiao Hsin-huang, DPP legislator Loh Meei-Ling, and Director-General of the National Immigration Agency Chung Ching-kun.
During the forum, Hsiao talked about the importance of multicultural sensitivity in society. He said that as the international influence of Southeast Asian countries increases, Taiwan needs to attach importance to issues like immigrant language education, multiculturalism and talent cultivation.
Director Chung from the National Immigration Agency said there are over a million new immigrants and their children in Taiwan. To help guide legislation, the government conducts a survey of that group every five years. The interior ministry also operates a fund aiming to help new immigrants integrate with an annual budget of NT$1 billion (US$33.5 million).
