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Lin showed two passports belonging to Chen, an old one which is no longer valid and a new one which has "Taiwan" on its cover.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.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS