Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday said that Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) never gave up his US citizenship.
Kuan told the legislature that Huang obtained a US green card as a dependent on March 15, 1988, and took an oath to become a US citizen on Feb. 15, 1994.
Huang filed a missing passport report after he used his US passport for the first time; and he did not tell the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) — in the postscript column of a visa application form — that he wanted to give up his US citizenship because he had to assume public office until he applied for a visitor’s visa on April 7, 2008, Kuan said.
However, Huang never went to AIT to complete the process to give up his US nationality, she said.
Huang served as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator between 2002 and Oct. 15 last year. He resigned his legislative post and was elected Taitung County commissioner on Dec. 5.
The Nationality Act (國籍法) bars public officials from holding dual nationality and obliges those who have foreign citizenship to give it up before assuming public office. They must present documents proving that they have given up their foreign nationality within one year of assuming public office.
Should the allegations prove true, Huang could be the latest politician to get into trouble for having retained US citizen during their term of public office.
Former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) was sentenced to two years in prison on fraud and forgery charges in her dual nationality case on Feb. 4. The ruling is not final.
KMT Kaohsiung City councilor Huang Shao-ting’s (黃紹庭) elected status was annulled by the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Sept. 25 because Huang held US citizenship. The CEC gave the same punishment to former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator George Liu (劉寬平) for holding US nationality during his term between. Feb 1, 2005, and Oct 15, 2007.
“Why is the dual citizenship controversy never ending? Isn’t this a serious matter?” Kuan asked Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Wu told Kuan he was saddened by the allegation and said he would investigate the matter.
In a telephone interview with SET-TV yesterday afternoon, Kuan said she obtained the information from a source in the US, adding that it was the same person who provided her with information about Lee and others.
Kuan said that although she wondered why the source provided her such information every time the KMT administration and China became too close to each other, the information from the source had so far always turned out to be true.
“Huang should be immediately investigated by prosecutors and the CEC,” she said.
Huang told a press conference in Taitung that he gave up his US citizenship in January 1996 after deciding to run for public office.
Meanwhile, Kuan accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of malfeasance after the term “Taiwanese” was not listed as a category in the US Census this year. She said US Department of Commerce officials told Taiwan’s representative office in Seattle that the department could include “Taiwanese” as a category, but somehow it never happened.
“[The ministry] must have compromised after the policy angered China,” Kuan said.
In previous censuses, overseas compatriots could write “Taiwanese” on the form, but not every state allows the practice, Kuan said, adding that only 140,000 people who identified themselves as “Taiwanese” were given recognition.
Wu voiced support for overseas compatriots identifying themselves as “Taiwanese” in the census form and vowed to find out why the US reneged on its promise.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
RSS