From ‘social problems’ to ‘social assets’: geopolitics, discursive shifts in children of Southeast Asian marriage migrants, and mother-child dyadic citizenship in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the discourse surrounding children of Southeast Asian (SEA) marriage migrants in Taiwan has seen a dramatic shift from the discourse of ‘social problems’ to that of ‘social assets’. By integrating perspectives of critical geopolitics and critical discourse analysis, this paper shows that this discursive shift has resulted from the dual impacts of the ‘mother-child dyadic citizenship’ and the geopolitics of the triad of Taiwan, SEA, and China. It is argued that the state formulates laws and policies concerning marriage migration based on the mother-child dyad rather than the individual-state nexus, while SEA is used merely as leverage against China. Moreover, confronted with an increasingly competitive global economy, especially the impending threat of a rising PRC, Taiwan’s immigration laws have become more classist, discriminating against Southeast Asian marriage migrants in contradiction with the current positive discourse, which reveals that the state–citizen relationship has evolved into a corporate-consumer relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Marriage migrants
• second generation
• geopolitics
• citizenship
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2. United Daily News, 18 August 2014, http://vision.udn.com/vision/story/7689/735688

3. United Daily News, 1 September 2014, https://vision.udn.com/vision/story/7697/735624

4. Taiwan News, 7 October 2019, https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/ch/news/3791900

5. In MOI’s 2013 report titled ‘Special Report on the Counselling and Education of Foreign and Mainland Spouses,’ ‘deteriorating the population quality’ was listed as one of the major problems caused by marriage migrants. https://www.immigration.gov.tw/media/5194/%E5%A4%96%E7%B1%8D%E8%88%87%E5%A4%A7%E9%99%B8%E9%85%8D%E5%81%B6%E8%BC%94%E5%B0%8E%E8%88%87%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E5%B0%88%E6%A1%88%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A-92%E5%B9%B412%E6%9C%8823%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%99%A2%E6%9C%83.odt

6. https://www.moea.gov.tw/mns/otn_e/content/Content.aspx?menu_id=19288 (accessed on 13 November 2017)

7. https://www.ey.gov.tw/otnen/64C34DCA8893B06/9c560855-1ecd-4f58-9c3f-c065d9e58f89 (accessed on 18 January 2019)

8. https://english.president.gov.tw/NEWS/5022 (accessed on 10 January 2020)

9. Including language requirements, nationality test, financial requirements, etc.

10. Central News Agency, 17 May 2016. http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20160517003417-260407

11. An independent investigatory and auditory agency of the government.

12. http://www.cy.gov.tw/AP_HOME/op_Upload/eDoc/%E5%85%AC%E5%A0%B1/96/0960000192588_%E5%85%A7%E6%96%87(%E7%80%8F%E8%A6%BD%E7%94%A8).pdf　(accessed on 6 October 2017)

13. https://www.facebook.com/moi.gov.tw/posts/1477223388972726 (accessed on 10 January 2021)

14. Notes of the SGI editor shared to the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hsiao-Chuan Hsia

DrHsiao-Chuan Hsiais Professor of the Graduate Institute for Social Transformation Studies at Shih Hsin University in Taiwan.  As the first scholar studying the phenomenon of marriage migration in Taiwan since 1990s, as well as an activist striving for the empowerment of marriage migrants, her publications primarily focus on  issues of marriage migrants, migrant workers, citizenship and social movements.