Government Information Office Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) told a press conference yesterday that the Cabinet has found that none of its members held dual citizenship, but that Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) and Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Chen Tian-jy (陳添枝) were holders of US green cards that had expired prior to their swearing in.
Shih said the Cabinet would work as fast as it could to determine whether any member of Cabinet held permanent residency in any country other than the US, and that it would publicize its findings.
Shih also said that Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) and National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Chairman Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) had informed the Cabinet that they had held permanent residency in Canada.
Shih said that Shen’s residency had already been cancelled, while Tai’s is in the process of being canceled.
Central Personnel Administration Minister Cheng Ching-hsiu (陳清秀) said that the Nationality Law (國籍法) prohibits public officials from holding dual citizenship, but that there is no legislation prohibiting officials from holding permanent residency in another country.
Cheng said that the main reason for this is that permanent residency does not involve the issue of swearing loyalty to another state.
Cheng said that the premise behind checking for permanent residency is to find out whether the person in question is enjoying any benefits from that country.
Cheng said that the results of the investigation are only intended as a reference for superiors, and do not touch upon legal issues.
Shih said that when choosing members for his Cabinet, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) had specifically asked potential members about their citizenship status or whether they held permanent residence in another country, because he did not approve of Cabinet members holding residency rights for other countries.
However, Shih said that since it was not illegal for public officials to do so, the Cabinet would consider the opinions of different sectors before deciding whether or not the regulations should be changed.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
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