A team player pursuing its own dreams: rights-claim campaign of Chinese migrant spouses in the migrant movement before and after 2008

Building on political opportunity theory, this chapter problematises the existing understanding of the migrant movement in Taiwan with a focus on the converging of interests existing within the Alliance of Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants (AHRLIM), an umbrella organisation of advocacy groups for migrants and immigrants in Taiwan. Highlighting the role and strategies of the Marriage Association of the Two Sides of China (MATSC) within the alliance, and highlighting the emerging political opportunities as a consequence of the change of the ruling party in 2008, this chapter argues that the migrant movement in Taiwan should be understood not as a unified entity but as a conglomeration of sometimes conflicting interests

The Change of Ruling Parties and Taiwan’s Claim to Multiculturalism before and after 2008

"In recent years, female marriage migration from China and Southeast Asia has significantly increased the number of foreign-born citizens in Taiwan. This article is a preliminary investigation into how political parties responded to the growing multicultural makeup of the national community between 2000 and 2012. We examine the content of the Understanding Taiwan textbook, the election publicity of the two major political parties, citizenship legislation, and the results of interviewing immigrant women. The findings show that the change in the ruling party did make differences in terms of both parties' projection of immigrant women in election propaganda and citizenship legislation. However, inward-looking multiculturalism is practised by the two main political parties in Taiwan to forge national identity and enhance national cohesion rather than to promote the recognition of immigrants' different cultural heritage." (author's abstract

Look, the World is Watching How We Treat Migrants! The Making of the Anti-Trafficking Legislation during the Ma Administration

Employing the spiral model, this research analyses how anti-human trafficking legislation was promulgated during the Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) presidency. This research found that the gov- ernment of Taiwan was just as accountable for the violation of mi- grants’ human rights as the exploitive placement agencies and abusive employers. This research argues that, given its reliance on the United States for political and security support, Taiwan has made great ef- forts to improve its human rights records and meet US standards for protecting human rights. The reform was a result of multilevel inputs, including US pressure and collaboration between transnational and domestic advocacy groups. A major contribution of this research is to challenge the belief that human rights protection is intrinsic to dem- ocracy. In the same light, this research also cautions against Taiwan’s subscription to US norms since the reform was achieved at the cost of stereotyping trafficking victimhood, legitimising state surveillance, and further marginalising sex workers

Maryland Infant Mortality Epidemiology Work Group Findings from Data Analysis and Overall Recommendations

The Infant Mortality Epidemiology Workgroup was charged to examine the risk factors associated with infant mortality in Maryland and to identify interventions that were most likely to enhance the state’s ability to achieve the goal of 10% reduction in infant mortality and to reduce the health disparities gap in infant mortality rates. The Workgroup examined linked birth and infant death data from the Maryland Vital Statistics Administration, and data from the Maryland Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System

The migration–family nexus in East Asia: Chinese family and the invisible within

Rapid economic growth in East Asia brings with it not only a development ‘miracle’ but also increased migration within and from China as well as in the Northeast–Southeast Asia corridors. The expanding migration flows make Chinese families in Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong one of the most noticeable groups whose life trajectory is punctuated by migration. This special issue is a collective endeavour to explore deeply the internal dynamics between Chinese family members across generations in regard to care, production and reproduction in light of the challenges and opportunities brought about by neoliberal globalisation

No Distant Memory: Rethinking the State, Its Citizens, and Authoritarianism in Everyday Life

Introduction to Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 2/2018: The Making and Operation of Everyday Authoritarianism in Taiwan during the Cold Wa