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Hsieh authorizes green card probe

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, left, and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang, hold up letters of consent they signed in Taipei yesterday authorizing the Central Election Commission to investigate their green card status. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), yesterday authorized the Central Election Commission (CEC) to investigate whether they have foreign nationality, and urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to follow suit.

Hsieh said it could lead to trouble if Ma were to win the presidential election and was then found to have foreign nationality. The DPP candidate said he would happily concede defeat if Ma's green card status was clarified prior to the election and he went on to win.

"Ma seems determined to make things difficult for the CEC," Hsieh said. "He must have thought the issue would go away if he continued to ignore the CEC's attempts to probe the matter."

Hsieh has accused Ma of holding a green card since 1977, while Ma has said his green card was invalidated in 1985. The CEC has requested the two sets of candidates to provide information regarding their green card status.

Signing a letter of consent authorizing the CEC to investigate his status, Hsieh said he did not hold foreign nationality or permanent residency in any other country because the Election and Recall Law of Civil Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法) states that presidential and vice presidential candidates may not do so.

The Nationality Law (國籍法) states that Taiwanese citizens who have obtained foreign nationality are banned from assuming public office unless they relinquish their status before taking the oath of office and complete the process within a year.

baffled

Describing Ma as an "opportunist," Hsieh said it baffled him that Ma had complicated a simple matter. Ma only needed to publicly declare his green card number, when it became invalid and whether the green card number had become his naturalization number, Hsieh said.

Hsieh said the accusation from the Ma camp that the CEC had sided with the Hsieh camp to persecute Ma was an overt attempt to sabotage the credibility of an independent body.

He urged Ma to refrain from exploiting legal loopholes and to abide by the law, which was enacted by the legislature while the KMT was in the majority.

criticism

Meanwhile, the Youth Department of Hsieh's camp criticized Ma for declining an invitation from university students to attend a public debate in Hsinchu on Feb. 22.

Freddy Lim (林昶佐), chief executive director of the department and frontman for dark metal band Chthonic (閃靈樂團), said he was disappointed when Ma's spokesman said Ma had decided to skip the event.

Hsieh campaign spokesman Hsu Kuo-yong (徐國勇) expressed regret over Ma's decision and said that Hsieh would attend the event.

Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesman Thomas Hodges said yesterday that the AIT would consider providing information to the CEC on the citizenship or permanent legal resident status of presidential candidates.

However, he said the CEC had not contacted the AIT.

Hodges reiterated comments by AIT Director Stephen Young and senior US State Department officials that Washington had no favorite in the presidential election.

"We will respond to inquiries of this nature in whatever manner best maintains our neutrality in this election," he said.

The CEC said on Saturday it would request help from foreign diplomatic missions to ascertain if either of the two presidential candidates has foreign citizenship.

The CEC said it would wait until both candidates had given their authorization for the committee to launch an investigation before enlisting the AIT's help.

Additional reporting by Jenny W. Hsu
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