By Michael Danielsen, chairman of Taiwan Corner
You are Taiwanese or Chinese depending on your personal resources and how the authorities assess your situation individually. Thus, Taiwanese can be assigned different nationalities even though they are both from Taiwan. It does not suit Denmark as a state governed by the rule of law not to have objective and consistent criteria for the registration of nationality from the same country.
As appears from Berlingske on November 7 regarding the development of the registration of Taiwanese, the nationality of the Taiwanese will depend on which arguments they can put forward within 14 days about what consequences a change to nationality China may mean for them, and it must be documented by authorities. But how is the individual Taiwanese to argue for a hypothetical but not unrealistic scenario where, for example, you are screened as Chinese in a research application and thus are at risk of not being considered? And why should you also not be given nationality Taiwan even if it is not your situation that you will apply for a research position?
New Taiwanese to Denmark
Taiwanese come to Denmark continuously to study, as exchange students, to do research or for love.
If Taiwanese who are already in Denmark get approved that they have nationality Taiwan, it must also apply to those who arrive in Denmark, since they too may be exposed to similar issues. That is not the approach of the authorities today. Those who come to Denmark for the first time are given nationality China.
We in Taiwan Corner do not see that there should be a difference in the treatment of Taiwanese who are already in Denmark and those who come continuously.
Is the One-China policy controlled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
One thing is that the Taiwanese can be both Taiwanese and Chinese, and another is Denmark’s foreign policy.
As appears from Berlingske, a letter to the Taiwanese mentions paragraph 40e, which “according to the wording of the law gives the agency the possibility to carry out the ‘final registration’ in its own systems.” (Taiwan Corner’s translation from Danish).
This can be understood as meaning that it is the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) that decides the One-China policy in Denmark and not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That makes no sense.
It apparently means that SIRI can therefore decide whether the One-China policy used by the other EU countries and the USA is to be followed, or whether we are to align ourselves with China’s One-China principle.
It is precisely China’s One-China principle that Denmark leans more toward when Taiwanese come to Denmark and are given nationality China. This comes at a time when China is putting enormous military and political pressure on democratic Taiwan. But is it SIRI that should set the foreign policy line when it comes to Taiwan?
The big question is who has started this mess. However, it appears from the latest consultation with the former Minister for Immigration and Integration that Denmark is now interpreting the One-China policy more in the direction of China’s One-China principle.
There is no longer coherence in Denmark’s One-China policy, and who controls foreign policy when it comes to Taiwan? Should it not be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? The strange thing about all this that Denmark goes alone in the EU. Why?
