Pro-localization groups said yesterday they would protest at the legislature tomorrow to vent their anger over what they called the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-dominated legislature’s partisan handling of Legislator Diane Lee’s (李慶安) suspected US citizenship.
The KMT caucus drew criticism for blocking a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus proposal during Tuesday’s plenary session that sought to unseat Lee. Although the KMT agreed with a DPP motion to move the proposal from slot No. 47 on the plenary agenda to the top of the list, the KMT later proposed referring the proposal for further cross-party negotiation instead of immediately calling for a vote on the issue.
The KMT caucus said the legislature should not handle the motion before Feb. 1 — the deadline for Lee to present documents to prove her loss of US citizenship.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
However, the KMT’s move was interpreted by the DPP as an attempt to shield Lee. The DPP caucus protested the move by immediately withdrawing from all negotiation sessions with the KMT.
Tomorrow’s demonstration, co-sponsored by the DPP, the Taiwan Association of University Professors, the Taiwan Calling for Referendum Amendment Alliance, the Taiwan Teachers’ Alliance and other pro-localization groups, will continue around the clock until Lee is relieved of her legislative position, organizers said.
Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Tsai Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said protesters would assemble in front of the legislature at 9am tomorrow. During the “siege,” Tsai said protesters would block the legislature’s entrance so that legislators would only be able to get in but not out of the legislature.
Tsai said the organizers had laid down basic rules for the siege, which are protesters should not enter the legislature, hurt anyone, oppress anyone, retreat or hit back in response to provocation.
Lee has been the center of a dual-citizenship controversy since March last year when the Chinese-language Next Magazine alleged that she still holds valid US citizenship.
The Nationality Act (國籍法) bans all government officials from holding dual citizenship.
In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs late last month in reply to Taiwan’s inquiry on the citizenship status of all sitting legislators, the US State Department said that Lee “has previously been documented as a US citizen with a US passport and that no subsequent loss of US citizenship has been documented.”
Lee, however, insisted she automatically lost her US citizenship when she was sworn in as a Taipei city councilor 14 years ago.
Lee yesterday accused the DPP of trying to resolve the controversy through “political means” before the Feb. 1 deadline.
Lee told a press conference yesterday that the DPP’s claim that the US had completed a review of nullification of her citizenship was “seriously misleading.”
She showed the press a copy of a letter she said she received from Edward Betancourt, director of the US State Department’s Office of Policy Review and Interagency Liaison on Tuesday.
“It said: ‘Any reports that Ms Lee’s case has been closed are not accurate,’” she said in English.
Lee said the office would also contact her as soon as the State Department finishes its review of documents proving the loss of her US citizenship. Lee, her office and her lawyer did not provide individual copies of the letter to reporters at the press conference.
Lee vowed to present proper documentation to the legislature by the end of this month.
When asked whether she considered herself “morally flawed” on the case, Lee said: “The law is the key to this case. We are waiting for the law to clarify the matter.”
Commenting on the planned “siege,” KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) yesterday said the DPP and a number of pro-independence groups should be charged with “intimidating” legislators for besieging the legislature and attempting to force lawmakers to rule on Lee’s case tomorrow.
Chang urged the DPP and the groups to abort their planned “drastic measures,” adding that their plan lacked legitimacy.
Chang yesterday also offered an apology to the public over the dual-nationality controversy surrounding Lee.
“Although the public reacted negatively to Lee’s case, we, the 113 lawmakers, should not resort to a vote to relieve the seat of a legislator who won the support of 80,000 to 90,000 people [in the election last year],” Chang said.
But not every KMT lawmaker supported the caucus’ action.
“Lee is no longer a KMT member. Shouldn’t the caucus adjust its attitude toward her case? After all, the caucus should also consider the feelings of other caucus members,” KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) said.
At a separate setting yesterday, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) told reporters that the legislature had decided to “handle the matter in accordance with the law.”
“If somebody cannot produce the evidence before the deadline, the KMT will ask the legislature to tackle the matter in a speedy manner,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of pan-green Taipei City councilors yesterday said they would launch a signature drive to recall Lee, in the hope of gathering a sufficient number of endorsements by the middle of next month to file a petition at the Central Election Commission.
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