The Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday that the British government had responded to its inquiry and confirmed that none of the candidates in the presidential election are British citizens.
"The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed that there are no records to indicate that presidential candidates Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or vice presidential candidates Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Vicent Siew (蕭萬長) have been registered or naturalized as British citizens," a statement released by the CEC said.
CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (
In late January, the Democractic Progressive Party's (DPP) Hsieh accused his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart, of holding a US green card. In response, Ma said he once had a green card but it was invalidated in the mid-1980s when he traveled to the US on a visa.
Hsieh insists Ma's green card is still valid. Some members of the DPP and the party's supporters have speculated that Ma may be a US citizen.
To clarify the candidates' citizenship status, the CEC late last month made inquiries through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the governments of the US, Japan and the UK.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) suggested last week that Ma may be a British citizen, as Ma was born in Hong Kong when it was a British colony. Ma's campaign said the allegation was laughable, but did not rule out legal action.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
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