He told a Legislative Yuan committee meeting there should be no change in the current waiting period of eight years.

“Any change shouldn’t be favorably considered for security reasons,” Chen said in response to a call for halving the waiting period.

Opposition lawmakers demanded an amendment to the naturalization law to make it possible for Chinese spouses of Taiwan citizens to acquire Taiwanese nationality in four years.

Another consideration, Chen said, is a concomitant sharp rise in immigration from China. Should the waiting period be cut, more Chinese spouses would be naturalized, Chen went on. “And then,” he pointed out, “they may request immigration of their parents 70 years old or older and children under 12 years of age.”

“Then,” Chen said, “the Chinese immigrants will increase so sharply in number as to make it all the more difficult to cope with.”

There are altogether 290,000 Chinese spouses of Taiwan nationals, against 130,000 from other countries across the world.

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