Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) yesterday urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be more active in confronting issues that damage the nation’s dignity and degrade its sovereignty.
Tsai made the call after a person surnamed Hung (洪) turned to him for help after the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines sent Hung to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs when he requested to change his nationality in his marriage certificate, which was wrongly recorded as “Taiwan, China.”
Hung married a Philippine woman named Jeana in the Philippines in May. He later found that he had been listed as a Chinese citizen in his marriage certificate, which caused his wife to be denied a visa to enter Taiwan, Tsai said.
According to Tsai, Hung sought help from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, but was told to take his case to the Philippine foreign department.
Tsai said Hung’s request that his nationality be correctly registered as “Republic of China (Taiwan)” has not been answered.
Hung has returned to Taiwan to pursue other avenues because the couple wants Jeana, who is seven months pregnant, to be granted a visa to Taiwan before their child is born, Tsai said.
Tsai said that on Thursday last week, the ministry promised that the representative office in Manila would step in to handle the case, but added that he hoped the ministry would also negotiate with the Philippines over its non-recognition of Taiwanese sovereignty.
Hung’s situation, the 2011 case where Manila deported 14 Taiwanese suspects to China and this year’s shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard personnel are examples of how Manila not recognizing Taiwan as a country downgrade the nation’s sovereignty, Tsai said.
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