South Korea seeks to limit the rights of Chinese residents on a reciprocal basis
South Korea's ruling party wants to prevent Chinese nationals living in the country from engaging in political matters and abusing the medical insurance law, sparking accusations of fomenting anti-Chinese sentiments amid rising tensions.
Kim Gi-hyeon, chairman of President Yoon Suk-yeol's conservative People Power Party (PPP) – which has fewer seats in parliament than the rival Democratic Party – told lawmakers in a speech on Tuesday that relations between Korea of the South and China "should be re-established according to the principle of reciprocity".
“We will work to limit the right to vote for Chinese residents in this country,” Kim said.
In local elections last year, some 100,000 Chinese living in South Korea were eligible to vote, while South Koreans in China were not allowed to vote.
Furthermore, Kim highlighted the alleged abuse of South Korea's public health insurance system by the Chinese as another key area that should be corrected under the principle of reciprocity.
“The health insurance fund created by the sweat and hard work of the people must not be abused to make medical purchases abroad. We will stop health insurance fraud and the abuse of health insurance by the Chinese,” Kim said.
Insurance coverage for foreigners who signed up for the National Health Insurance fell short of the premiums they paid, resulting in a shortfall of 1.7 trillion won ($1.3 billion) from 2018 to 2021, according to the Ministry of Health, which needs to be paid by South Korean taxes.
If the deficit due to the Chinese is analyzed by country, with a shortfall of 284.4 billion won, while the Americans recorded a surplus of 68.3 billion won, the Vietnamese 44.7 billion won and the Filipinos 316 billion won. So the Chinese are overexploiting the Korean healthcare system in relation to the communities.
However, this "Principle of reciprocity" must be read within a broader framework of international relations, in which South Korea is attacked by China for its good relations with the USA. This prompted a warning from Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming, who warned Seoul against betting on Washington defeating Beijing in the superpower rivalry, Yonhap News reported. These statements were made, among other things, in a meeting between the Chinese ambassador and Korean opposition leader, so they also sounded like a sort of political interference.
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon told reporters last week that the rules on permanent residence of foreigners are also being revised to apply the principle of reciprocity to the right to vote.
“Giving foreigners the right to vote without regard to the principle of reciprocity could bend public opinion,” Han said.
Critics have said that claims that giving Chinese citizens the right to vote could lead to interference in internal affairs are exaggerated.'
The Korean government is also trying to exploit the growing popular hostility of Korean citizens towards Beijing, deriving from a long-standing hatred, in order to strengthen its position in view of the general elections to be held next year. But China's interference in the area is absolutely undeniable.
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The article South Korea seeks to limit the rights of Chinese residents on a reciprocal basis comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-corea-del-sud-cerca-di-limitare-i-diritti-dei-residenti-cinesi-su-base-di-reciprocita/ on Fri, 23 Jun 2023 14:57:40 +0000.