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KMT criticizes CEC over delay in probe results

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lashed out at Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) over the commission's delay in publicizing the US' and Japan's responses to the commission's probe into whether the presidential candidates or their running mates have dual citizenship.

KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) accused Chang of becoming the pan-green camp's "hatchet man" because Chang, who received the two nations' responses last Friday, did not make them public until Monday.

DEFENSE

Fai said Chang's failure to publicize the information over the weekend had prevented KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from defending himself with the information when being questioned by Ma's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) during Sunday's presidential debate.

Hsieh's camp has been accusing Ma of holding a valid green card since late January. Ma has contended that he once held a green card but no longer does because the card was invalidated when he used a visitor's visa to enter the US.

Referring to the commission as "shameful," Fai said Chang is obliged to explain to the public why the publication was delayed.

Fai's criticism came after the commission issued a press release on Monday afternoon, saying that the commission had received responses from the American Institute in Taiwan showing that neither Ma, Hsieh, or their running mates appeared to be a US citizen based on US citizen and immigration records.

"Japanese naturalization regulations require that [an applicant] renounce his or her original citizenship before being granted Japanese citizenship," the CEC statement also said.

"We confirmed with the Ministry of the Interior that all four are Republic of China citizens and therefore cannot be Japanese citizens," it said.

Chang also said during a legislative interpellation session on Monday that the UK was to reply to the probe soon.

However, Chang also admitted during the session that he had received the responses last Friday but was unable to publicize them until Monday because he had been preoccupied with official business.

In response, Chang denied the accusations.

"If we had intended to help the DPP, we would have asked the US to find out whether Ma is a US green card holder instead of a US citizen," Chang said when approached by reporters outside the legislature.

Chang said, "it was not an intentional delay in announcing the result. It's efficient enough that we made it public [on Monday] after we received a response from the American Institute in Taiwan last Friday."

TIED UP

He said he was tied up in a legislative interpellation session the whole day on Friday over the second presidential debate, which was organized by the commission.

Meanwhile, Hsieh's campaign team continued to argue Ma's green card was still valid, challenging Ma's claim that his green card was automatically invalidated in 1985 when he applied for a visa to travel to the US.

Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓), a Hsieh campaign spokesperson, said that Ma visited the US seven times using non-immigrant visas between 1982 and 1985, but at the same time his green card was still valid.

While the CEC had cleared Ma of being a US citizen, Hsieh Hsin-ni yesterday urged Ma to offer a clear account on exactly when his green card became invalid since he and his campaign have offered three different versions in response to their questions on the issue.

ESTIMATION

In response, Ma camp spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) told the Taipei Times that the Ma camp was giving a "rough estimation" of the invalidation time of Ma's green card during the press conference held on Jan. 28.

Lo said the camp was only able to present a rough expiration time of the card because Ma only remembered that his green card had expired around 1985 while they were unable to find the passports he used prior to 1990.

"Everyone knows that non-immigrant visa holders cannot own green cards at the same time," Lo said.

"If the pan-green camp could really obtain [Ma's departure] record before 1985, we would welcome to publicize the information because it would only prove that Ma's green card expired even earlier," he said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and and Ko Shu-ling
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