Less than 24 hours after returning to Taipei from New York, the president's son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) yesterday made public his passport, aimed at debunking accusations leveled against him by an opposition lawmaker.
At an informal press conference yesterday afternoon, lawyer Lin Chih-hao (
"These official documents say it all," Lin said. "They clearly prove that Chen possesses an F-1 student visa and a valid EAD."
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
"He did not apply for immigration status with investments in the US as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) charged," Lin said, adding that it is impossible for the EAD to be duplicated because of a chip that is embedded in the card.
Lin showed two passports belonging to Chen, an old one which is no longer valid and a new one which has "Taiwan" on its cover.
"As you can see [Chen's] signatures are the same on the two passports as well as the EAD," Lin said.
"The reason why he needed this new passport was because he liked the fact that Taiwan was written on the cover page, so he applied for the newer version," he said.
The name on Chen's passport was in Wade-Giles romanization, not Hanyu pinyin as Chiu alleged.
"Chiu accused Chen of using a different spelling of his name and signature, applying for immigration with investments in the US and possessing more than one passport. Now, I think all his accusations have been answered," Lin said.
Lin said his client decided to make public his official documents yesterday morning.
"Now that [Chen] is back, he decided to make everything clear and rebut Chiu's accusations with proof," Lin added.
In related news, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged the opposition to put a stop to its smear campaign against Chen and his wife now that the couple have returned home.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai regretted that it has been claimed that, should the DPP lose Saturday's municipal elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung, the couple would be held accountable.
He added that speculation had caused "unbearable pressure" on the young couple.
Stressing that where the couple lives has nothing to do with the upcoming election, Tsai urged the opposition camp to shift their focus to major policy issues and respect the president's son and daughter-in-law's privacy.
KMT legislator Tsai Chin-lung (
He added that the couple's return was "not a big deal," and only meant that the president had delivered on his word and that the KMT would not touch on the subject again.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS