Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), who has been at the center of a citizenship scandal, has quit the party. Lee issued a statement announcing her immediate resignation last night.
“With regard to the [US] nationality issue, although Edward A. Betancourt, the US State Department official in charge of citizenship affairs, sent me a letter on Dec. 4 saying that [the loss] of my citizenship remained under review, I ... cannot bear to see the KMT criticized by the public because of the case, even though the US government has not reached a final decision on the case,” the statement said.
Lee’s office said she would also cancel a planned visit to the KMT’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee today.
In March, Lee became the focus of a controversy over lawmakers holding dual citizenship after Chinese-language Next Magazine reported that she had a US passport.
In May the Legislative Yuan launched an investigation into whether any lawmakers had dual citizenship, asking for the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The Nationality Act (國籍法) bars government officials from holding dual citizenship.
Lee’s statement came after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday continued to hound Lee with the latest in a string of developments.
The DPP caucus on Monday released a US government document obtained from a Web site showing what it said were details of Lee’s income tax refund from the US government for this year.
Lee said that she had paid property tax and not income tax, a claim that DPP legislators yesterday rebutted, saying the documents in their possession showed Lee paid “2007 individual income tax.”
“Diane Lee should stop telling lies,” DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) told a press conference, displaying the document that she said showed Lee had paid “2007 individual income tax."
“If Lee paid property tax, why did the US government give her an extra US$300 for having a son under the age of 17?” Chiu asked, adding she had never heard of a refund for paying property tax.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said property tax in the US is a state tax, not a federal government tax. If Lee paid property tax to a state government, why did the federal government give her a tax rebate, he asked.
The DPP caucus on Monday released a US government document obtained from a Web site showing what it said were details of Lee’s income tax refund for this year.
Earlier yesterday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had kept a low profile yesterday when asked whether the Presidential Office and the KMT headquarters had asked Lee to withdraw from the party.
Wang was approached for comment after a story in yesterday’s Chinese-language United Daily News said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Wang and three other senior KMT officials reached a consensus during a meeting on Monday that the KMT should decide how to deal with Lee soon.
“I can’t tell you [the focus of the meeting],” Wang said.
The story quoted an unidentified source as saying that the KMT’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee might suspend Lee’s party rights after inviting her to explain the nationality controversy to the committee today.
The source was also quoted as saying that the party headquarters was also trying to persuade Lee to withdraw from the party in a bid to prevent the controversy from harming the KMT.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) urged Lee to resign, saying that the legislative job was “boring anyway” and that Lee could do better in other fields.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2