Taipei City Councilor Tim Chang (常中天) of the New Party, said yesterday that he had renounced his US citizenship ahead of being sworn in as a councilman last December -- refuting allegations that he held dual nationality after taking office.
"I had already renounced my US citizenship in accordance with the Election and Recall Law (
Media reports on Wednesday said Chang held dual nationality while serving as an elected official, which would be in violation of the law and nullify Chang's councillorship.
The issue of his dual nationality had first been raised during last year's election campaign.
By law, anyone elected to a public office who holds dual citizenship must renounce all of their foreign citizenships before their inauguration dates. Those who fail to do so would face nullification of the elected post.
Chang told reporters in a press conference yesterday that he had gone to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in Taipei on Dec. 19 last year to renounce his US citizenship and surrender his US passport.
Chang showed reporters an official AIT document verifying he had waived his citizenship.
While renouncing his US citizenship removed an impediment to his taking office, it has created another.
The 38-year old Chang has not yet fulfilled the ROC's two-year military service requirement.
The Military Service Law (
Chang and his family immigrated to the US in 1981. He obtained US citizenship when he was studying for a masters degree at Texas A&M University.
"I didn't obtain US citizenship until 1993 when I was then propelled by the need to get citizenship in order to compete for the internship opportunities needed for the completion of my masters studies," Chang said.
He applied for exemption to fulfilling the military-service requirement in 1996 on the basis of his US citizenship.
The Taipei City's Department of Military Service said it would start the process to draft Chang for military duty, unless he couldn't meet the physical requirement. How-ever, the department noted that given his age, Chang could apply for the deferred draft.
Chang said he would respect any decision made by military authorities.
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