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Hsieh pulls back on green card debate

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, right, meets 91-year-old Hsieh Fa-kuei at a temple dedicated to the Hsieh family in Miaoli County yesterday. PHOTO: LI HSIN-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

After several days of questions and accusing his opponent of holding a US green card, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday called for a temporary halt to the issue.

Hsieh said his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), had made a simple question -- "when did his US green card become invalid?" -- too complicated, adding that "there must be something fishy behind such complexity."

unknown

Hsieh said that discussions on the green card issue had become trivialized because the "expiry date of the card -- the core of the problem -- remains unknown."

"None of [Ma's camp] can tell us the exact date that Ma revoked his green card and the procedures he followed. This is the problem," Hsieh said.

Hsieh has accused Ma of holding a green card since 1977, while Ma has said his green card was automatically invalidated in 1985 when he applied for a visa to travel to the US.

"I am not questioning a lawmaker or a councilor, but Ma, who aims to be the nation's leader," Hsieh said at a press conference yesterday.

"Whether he owns a green card is a problem that should be taken seriously, but we have never heard him say in person that he has forfeited his US permanent resident status," Hsieh said.

"I will let the public be the judge," Hsieh said.

Hsieh said Ma and his camp had told "an astonishing" three lies in less than a week since registering his candidacy on Jan. 27.

"First, Ma's camp [late on Thursday night] corrected its previous statement that Ma's wife, Chow Mei-ching (周美青), never sold shares of Mega Financial Holdings Co," Hsieh said.

family

"Second, Ma Ying-jeou first denied that any of his family members was or is a green card holder, and then later admitted that he and his wife both applied for green cards," Hsieh said.

"And third, when I questioned Ma about receiving a political donation from a business association, Ma denied it, but his eldest sister, Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), admitted it afterward," he said.

donation

Hsieh said he could not understand why Ma denied taking the donation in the first place because it was a normal thing for candidates to receive donations from business associations when campaigning.

Hsieh said the public should be the judge on whether they should be concerned about supporting a presidential candidate who is inconsistent and afraid of his own shadow.
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