American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Sheila Paskman yesterday said a US government document from 1904 showed that Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and that Sun had been issued a document showing that he was a US citizen — claims the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) quickly denied.
During an interview with the Central News Agency, Paskman said that to celebrate the centenary of the ROC this year, the AIT had planned a special exhibition with Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in conjunction with US celebrations of its Independence Day.
In the process, she said, a document from 1904 was unearthed in the US National Archives stating that the US had given Sun legal status as a US citizen.
The document will be on display at the “Special Exhibition of Sun Yat-sen and the US” on July 4, Paskman said, adding that whether Sun’s birth certificate which shows he was born in Honolulu would be included was under negotiation.
Paskman said that while looking for information on Sun, she came across data showing Sun had once attended Oahu College, now called Punahou School, of which US President Barack Obama is an alumnus.
Most history textbooks state that Sun was born on Nov. 12, 1866, in Cuiheng Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province, China.
Commenting on the revelation yesterday, Shao Ming-huang (邵銘煌), director of the KMT’s -department of history, said that even if the US had legal documents showing Sun was a US citizen, it would not change the fact that Sun was born in Guangdong.
Shao said 1904 was a decade after Sun founded the Hsing Chung Hui, or the Revive China Society, and launched his revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.
The revolution ran into difficulties and Sun was faced with the prospect of being arrested in China, Shao said.
With the US Chinese Exclusion Act severely limiting Chinese immigration, Sun had difficulty entering the US and was even detained by US authorities at one point, Shao said.
Sun’s detention prompted an overseas Chinese to say that if Sun wanted to promote a Chinese -revolution on US soil, it would be best if he had US citizenship, Shao said.
Sun’s friends in San Francisco set in motion plans for him to obtain US citizenship by faking a birth certificate showing that he was born in Honolulu, Shao said.
Sun asked for a birth certificate from Hawaii because he had lived and studied there in his early teens, Shao said, adding that the date on the birth certificate — Nov. 24, 1870 — was chosen to reflect the founding date of the Hsing Chung Hui to establish a connection with his revolutionary activities.
“It was a makeshift plan for the good of the revolution and it does not change where Sun was born,” Shao said.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS