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KMT must draw line on green cards: DPP

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday condemned the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration for allowing government officials to hold a US green card or dual citizenship and asked those who do to renounce the status.

Dismissing the administration’s inconsistent arguments about the matter as “rubbish,” DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that his party strongly denounces government officials that hold a US green card or dual citizenship.

DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the administration had come up with at least four different arguments. Cheng said they had argued that some green cards became automatically invalid, some officials who had a green card or dual citizenship was required for professional reasons or that there was no conflict between being loyal to the country and holding dual citizenship or a US green card.

Although no existing laws ban government officials from having such status, Chen asked the KMT administration to adopt higher moral standards, especially for officials involved in national security or foreign affairs.

“It must draw a clear line and there must be no room for vagueness,” Chen said.

Chen said that while the Cabinet seemed to be at a loss as to how to deal with the matter, he proposed that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉召玄) ask all Cabinet officials to relinquish their foreign residency rights. Chen also urged Ma and Liu to fire any Cabinet official who lied about their status.

Cheng demanded the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) and a new designate-representative to the US to replace Jason Yuan (袁健生). Ou obtained a US green card in 2005 while Yuan is waiting to receive his green card.

Cheng also criticized Ou for a defeatist mentality in the face of Beijing’s oppression of Taiwan’s space, calling him a “deserter on the diplomatic battlefield” and a “soldier surrendering his weapons before the war is over.”

Cheng also requested that government officials produce official documentation to prove their claim that they have renounced their green card or dual citizenship or that it was invalidated.

“Don’t think it is just a small crisis and they do not need to take it seriously,” Cheng said.

INTERNATIONAL VIEW

Meanwhile, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she does not have a green card or permanent residency in the UK. Such a status might affect the holder’s international outlook, but that did not mean that those who lack the status therefore lack an international perspective, she said.

She expressed concern over the KMT administration’s retreat on the issue of sovereignty and foreign affairs, and asked them to consider taking a proactive approach as Beijing grows economically and politically.

Tsai also cautioned about using the seeming rapprochement in the Taiwan Strait to divert attention from the government’s ineptitude in handling domestic affairs such as the green card issue, because upholding national interests at the negotiation table outweighed everything else.

Tsai urged the public to ponder the suitability of political appointees holding a green card or permanent residency because it not only related to patriotism and loyalty, but also would impact on how these officials would map out the government policies and future.

Meanwhile, Liu said yesterday that the Cabinet would take its nationality and foreign residency status of government officials probe one step further by including the nation’s representatives based overseas in the investigation.

Liu said that the Cabinet had completed the probe into Cabinet members, with the results showing that only National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Chairwoman Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) and Hsu Cheng-yung (�?a), Vice Minister of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, held foreign residency.

Tai applied to relinquish her Canadian permanent resident card last week and had obtained the official annulment document yesterday noon, Cabinet Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said.

Hsu, who was an overseas compatriot in the Philippines, was in the process of giving up his Philippines residency, the premier said when approached for comment on his way to the legislature.

The next step is to include all of the nation’s representatives to other countries, Liu said, adding that the probe would focus on whether any of them holds a US green card.

The Cabinet recently launched its investigation into Cabinet officials amid allegations from the DPP that several officials held permanent foreign residency.

The issue came to the spotlight last Wednesday after Ou was found to have obtained a US green card in 2005 when he was Taipei’s representative to Guatemala.

The residency issue sparked a heated exchange between the premier and DPP legislators Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) on the legislative floor yesterday morning.

The three lawmakers protested against the premier’s remark on Monday that the government needed to recruit talent with overseas work experience in the era of globalization.

‘HIGHEST STANDARDS’

The premier said he had applied “the highest standards” in dealing with the matter, “unlike the previous DPP administration, which hired many Cabinet members who held dual citizenship.”

But Lin interrupted him, calling Liu’s remark “disgraceful” and “shameful.” Liu then asked Lin to mind her manners on the legislative floor.

The premier also dismissed the legislators’ call to replace the minister of foreign affairs.

“There is no need for him to step down. I’m willing to give him one more chance,” he said.

“Holding a green card and owning dual nationality are very different, as the latter involves an oath of loyalty to another country while many people apply for green cards because of the need to work and study abroad,” he said.

KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) softened his attitude toward the way the premier handled the issue.

“This issue should stop now that the Executive Yuan has publicized the result of its investigation,” he said.

KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) also urged the administration to drop the issue and focus more on other administrative issues.

Meanwhile, Shih issued a press statement yesterday saying that the premier didn’t mean to say that being a green card holder made one equal to a person with international sophistication.

Liu added fuel to the fire on Monday when he defended his Cabinet members holding permanent residency in other countries by saying that the country needed talent with international work experience to join the administration.

“It’s ok if I leave the premiership, but Taiwan can’t afford not to have talent who have knowledge of the international arena,” Liu said.

He made the remarks on Monday when approached by the press to comment on the demand of a KMT legislator calling for his resignation if the Cabinet failed to finish its probe into the nationality and residency status of Cabinet members by 5pm on Monday.

“It’s either a misunderstanding or a distortion to say that holding a green card indicates that the holder is a person with international vision,” Shih said.

What Liu meant to say was that the nation should not exclude talent who previously obtained permanent residency in other countries as a result of the years they spent there studying or working from joining the government, she said.

The enforcement rules of the Nationality Law (國籍法), enacted in 1929, prohibits citizens who obtained nationality of a foreign country from holding public office, but when the law was enacted in 2000, there were some exceptions written into the regulation, Shih said.

Shih said that the government’s position was that the nation should not leave people who have professionalism, international vision and integrity off the list of government officials just because they hold or once held permanent residency in other countries.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
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