Regarding the article published by the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (ATIEM) on the 25th, the current government stated that in addition to the “Household Registration Act”, one who lives independently shall constitute a household with himself/herself as the head of the household, one person cannot be registered in two households, and the government recently claimed that if the person whose household registration was removed cannot return to Taiwan to complete the household registration restoration procedures four months in advance, but the “Nine-in-One Election” will be held in November this year, it’s equivalent to depriving voters of their right to vote in disguise. Zu-jia Lin, Director of the Mainland Affairs Department of the KMT, said that he agrees with the proposition that voters’ right to vote cannot be deprived in disguise, there should be a more flexible approach in this period, so that overseas compatriots can perform their civic duties in a relatively simple way, which is also the responsibility of any elected government.
Zu-jia Lin pointed out that in the past two years, the epidemic has spread all over the world, with the relevant regulations of isolation and quarantine measures, it has not only caused additional economic burdens, but also seriously affected existing cross-border movements and exchanges between mainland China and Taiwan. The vast majority of overseas compatriots’ relatives, friends and families are in Taiwan, they have to take care of their overseas careers or studies, and at the same time cooperate with the government’s epidemic prevention policy, which is already very difficult to them, the inhuman epidemic policy to them in this period should happen in a democratic and free society.
Zu-jia Lin appealed to the government that the epidemic was not caused by overseas compatriots, and it was not their wish for being unable to return to Taiwan for a long time. In this period, there should be flexible methods and simple measures for them, KMT suggested that the government should consider providing overseas compatriots, who have left the country for two years and want to return to Taiwan to vote at the end of this year, through online registration in advance or entrusting relatives and friends in Taiwan to assist them to apply for electoral registration to the household registration office. KMT believes that the epidemic policy we suggested can take into account epidemic prevention, convenience and democracy at the same time, which should be welcomed by all overseas compatriots who love ROC and want to elect officials who can best serve the people.
