February 9, 2013
No. 008
Over the past few years, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has encountered various
urgent cases requiring assistance for Mainland spouses in Taiwan; in which cases
the staff have always been instructed to thoroughly investigate the problems faced
by the Mainland spouses and assist in finding solutions by coordinating related
authorities, while at the same time, maintain close contact with them and tend to
their needs for assistance. Especially in the current Lunar New Year holiday season,
some Mainland spouses of disadvantaged families who are denied the joy of the holiday
due to straitened living circumstances remain in dire need for care and assistance
from the society. In one such case, the husband of a Mainland spouse surnamed Huang
suffered from a rare disease that required him to undergo regular treatment at great
medical expense, whereas the only source of income for the family depended entirely
on the Mainland spouse’s salary from a restaurant job. Therefore, the MAC staff
visited the family prior to the Lunar New Year to better understand the husband’s
medical conditions and the family’s situation, while at the same time offered consolation
money and conveyed the government's concern. The MAC maintains regular contact with
organizations related to Mainland spouses so as to fully grasp the demand for assistance
from Mainland spouses in Taiwan and coordinate assistance provided from related
social welfare units and non-governmental organizations.
Moreover, at the beginning of this year, MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi met with the
head of an organization for Mainland spouses to reach out to Mainland spouses living
in Taiwan. During which the organization head mentioned recent cases involving Mainland
spouses who have domiciled in Taiwan and wished to return to the Mainland to cancel
their Mainland household registration were refused the Taiwan Compatriot Travel
Certificates by the Mainland side on the grounds that they still had a Mainland
registered household, and were thus prevented from successfully returning to the
Mainland. Minister Wang was informed of the problems of converting documentation
after domiciling in Taiwan prior to the peak travel season of Lunar New Year holidays,
therefore he immediately instructed MAC staff to promptly deliberate and address
the problem. The Straits Exchange Foundation was also instructed to coordinate with
relevant departments on the Mainland side, who subsequently agreed to allow Mainland
spouses domiciled in Taiwan to apply for a single-entry Taiwan Compatriot Travel
Certificate upon arrival at any of the 31 direct cross-strait transportation ports
in the Mainland. Thus, Mainland spouses were able to smoothly process related documentation
and return to the Mainland in time for the Lunar New Year’s holiday.