Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) wife, Patty Tsai (蔡依珊), is in the process of renouncing her Canadian citizenship, according to a statement from the Taipei law firm LCS & Partners.
Tsai signed a contract with the law firm on April 23 authorizing it to contact Canadian attorneys about Canada’s regulations relating to the renounciation of citizenship, the statement said.
The relevant procedures are under way, the firm said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Attorney Lin Ching-fe (林進富) said in the statement that the processing of Tsai’s application was not complete.
Lien’s campaign office issued the statement on behalf of the firm in response to a report in the latest edition of the Chinese-language weekly, Next Magazine that said it had received a tip from a person at an airline that Tsai presented a Canadian passport while transiting through Hong Kong last year, as did the couple’s two children.
Asked to verify the report yesterday, Lien said he felt sorry that his wife had to give up her Canadian citizenship because of his political career.
“She did not have to do this. She is not running in the election. I really appreciate that she is willing to make a sacrifice because of the need to accommodate the sentiment [against politicians holding dual citizenship] in Taiwan’s electoral culture. I feel sad in my heart and really sorry,” Lien said.
“I am the one running for election. What is important is that I have never acquired a foreign nationality by applying for one,” he said.
Lien won the KMT mayoral primary on April 19.
Under the Nationality Act (國籍法), Taiwanese may hold dual citizenships, but those holding public office must surrender their foreign citizenship.
Dual nationality has been a sensitive topic in recent years, with some people saying that public servants or elected officials holding dual citizenship could undercut their allegiance to this nation.
Tsai, daughter of the owner of Shanghai Shanghai (紅豆食府), a famous restaurant in Taiwan, immigrated to Canada with her family when she was 14 and eventually obtained citizenship, Lien said.
Next Magazine said Lien could gain Canadian citizenship as Tsai’s spouse if Tsai continued to hold Canadian nationality.
However, the Canadian government’s Web site states that marriage to a Canadian citizen does not provide their spouse with citizenship.
If a Canadian’s spouse wants to acquire Canadian citizenship, they must follow the same steps as any other applicant.
In related news, independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said his father had once applied for a US green card for him. However, Ko said he had given the green card up years ago.
“My uncles left Taiwan to live in the US because of the 228 Massacre. My father was the only one among his siblings to stay in Taiwan,” the physician-turned-candidate said. “At the time, my father had a green card, and he applied for one for me, thinking it would be better for me to move to the US later on.”
However, after he graduated from National Taiwan University’s medical school, he decided he did not want a green card, Ko said.
“I told my father that I wanted to become a doctor in Taiwan, not in the US, so I went to the American Institute in Taiwan to fill out forms to give up the green card myself,” Ko said.
Asked about the Next Magazine story about Tsai’s Canadian citizenship, Ko said it was not a big deal since Tsai lived in Canada for a long time. Election laws do not prohibit a candidate’s spouse from having foreign citizenship, he said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS