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Presidential election 2008: 13 days to go: ANALYSIS: Analysts pan handling of green card dispute

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh and his running mate Su Tseng-chang are joined by the their wives as they received flowers at a campaign event in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

Since registering for the presidential election with the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Jan. 27, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) US green card status has been a subject of controversy and attacks by his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).

When Hsieh first raised the green card issue, Ma initially responded that he did not have a green card, but later conceded that he possessed one in 1977 to get student loans and employment after graduation. However, it was automatically invalidated in 1985 when he applied for a visa to travel to the US, Ma said.

Hsieh alleged that Ma has not provided evidence to back his claims and still holds a valid US green card because he never completed an I-407 form to relinquish his permanent residency in the US nor has a US immigration court invalidated his card.

The issue carried over to the first televised presidential debate on Feb. 24, when Hsieh asked Ma to apologize if evidence proves that his US permanent residency was still valid before Jan. 27.

The two camps threatened to sue each other after Hsieh spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) alleged that Ma had sent an aide, former diplomat John Feng (馮寄台), to visit an American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) official to sort out the matter.

The latest allegation surfaced when Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) alleged on Thursday that Ma might have a UK passport because he was born in Hong Kong and that he obtained a US passport afterward. Yang, however, provided no evidence to support his claims.

Analysts said that had Ma come clean on his US green card sooner, the controversy would not have dragged on for so long.

Hwang Shiow-duan (黃秀端), a political science professor at Soochow University, said the incident showcased Ma's deficiency in crisis management.

"His crisis management has always been poor," she said. "If I were him, I would have gone to the [AIT] to fill out the I-407 form and publicly renounce the US permanent residency to minimize the damage that could have been done."

She said she did not know why the AIT or the US government did not come forward and help clarify the matter, but she suspected they either did not want to get involved or wanted to wait until they received a formal request from the CEC.

CEC ROLE

The CEC has since stepped in to resolve the controversy. Hsieh and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), authorized the CEC to investigate whether they hold foreign residency or citizenship. Ma later followed suit.

The AIT has said it would consider providing information to the CEC on the citizenship or permanent legal resident status of presidential candidates. AIT officials, however, said the CEC had not yet contacted them.

Former senior presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) urged the US government or AIT to clarify Ma's green card status to ensure the fairness and transparency of the presidential race.

Wu, who relinquished his green card in 2004, said he understood the US government might want to protect Ma's personal information, but said it would only be to the advantage of Ma and Taiwan's democracy if the US government clarified the matter.

Political analyst Antonio Chiang (江春男) said he did not think the US government would want to get involved because it would be considered an overt endorsement of a particular candidate if it came out and said Ma does not have a valid green card. It would likely cause even more trouble if it confirmed that Ma's green card is valid, he said.

POLL RESULTS

The results of a poll released by Taiwan Thinktank yesterday showed that more than 43 percent of respondents said they did not think AIT's reticence was an indication that the US favored any candidate, while aprroximately 37 percent said that it did.

More than 47 percent said they were not worried that the US government would meddle in Taiwan's presidential election, while nearly 41 percent said they were worried.

While the public might have grown weary of the ongoing controversy, Hwang said the issue was important because a US green card is a document that grants lawful permanent residency in the US, a prerequisite to immigrating to that country.

That Ma applied for and received a green card could indicate that Ma had attempted to immigrate to the US in the 1970s when Taiwan was in a difficult situation, she said.

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

It could also lead to a constitutional crisis if Ma won the presidential election only to be found later on to have foreign nationality. In that case, the election results could face a challenge.

"If that were the case, it would be a problem not only for the KMT, but also for the entire nation," Chiang said. "It would be both a legal problem and a serious political problem."

Chiang said Ma's wishy-washy attitude may have damaged his image and given the public the impression that he is dishonest and poor at crisis management. But he did not think Hsieh would continue to push the issue because it has been dragging on for so long that its impact has diminished as the issue becomes more trivial and complicated.
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