This project examines why Taiwan has not developed consistent immigration policies for migrants from Mainland China. It situates Taiwan’s jus sanguinis (heritage-based right of citizenship) policies in the context of other states' immigration policies, arguing that Taiwan uses its immigration policies to manage its foreign relations with Mainland China.
Taiwan’s Nationality Act has played a central role in its policies toward refugees and migrants from Mainland China (the People’s Republic of China – PRC). The act stipulates that every person of Chinese heritage outside the PRC is theoretically a national of Taiwan (Republic of China – ROC), irrespective of generation counts, and is therefore eligible for jus sanguinis preferential treatment for immigration. This does not mean that the Nationality Act has not considered people from Mainland China as ROC nationals. In practice, however, the Nationality Act excludes residents of Mainland China (including Hong Kong and Macau) from the legal definition of refugees, which requires them to be foreign nationals. As a result, repatriation has provided the Taiwanese government an effective workaround, both domestically and internationally, for admitting Chinese people whom it considers acceptable.
This project examines key examples of unsuccessful attempts to update the Nationality Act in 2007, 2012, and 2016. These cases explain the political forces that have sustained the act’s role in Taiwanese immigration policy: a lack of voter support left lawmakers without the political will to pass the proposed legislation.
The project also examines the distinct and competing positions of four political parties – the New Power Party (NPP), Kuomintang (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) – on applying the Nationality Act to Mainland Chinese asylum seekers and migrants. These positions illuminate both the strengths and challenges of Taiwan’s democratic system since the KMT lost the presidential election to the DPP in 2000. As Taiwan continues to shape its political identity, immigration and migrants’ rights remain highly contested policy spaces.
Lead Researcher
Angela Ju, Taiwan Program Kwoh-Ting Li Fellow, 2026-2027
