The Taiwan People’s Party has a two-year clause for its at-large seats in the Legislative Yuan, with eight legislators expected to resign in 2026. Among the nominees for a replacement is Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀), the Chinese spouse of a Taiwanese national. The question is whether she must give up her Chinese nationality.
This issue is simple in some ways and complex in others. The law clearly stipulates that individuals of foreign nationality cannot hold public office in Taiwan. So, according to the law, Li cannot hold public office. The issue becomes more complicated when considering this question: Are those holding People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationality considered foreign nationals? If so, how should one go about renouncing their PRC nationality?
One might argue that the preamble of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC) (中華民國憲法增修條文) states: “To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification,” while Article 1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) states: “This act is specially enacted for the purposes of ensuring the security and public welfare in the Taiwan Area ... before national unification.”
From these examples, it seems that those holding PRC nationality are not considered foreign nationals. However, these provisions present a false and unrealistic narrative — the reality is that some countries acknowledge that Taiwan — the ROC — is a country, while others acknowledge that the PRC is a country.
Many democratic states have indicated that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, and therefore does not preclude Taiwan from participating in international organizations. In other words, Taiwan and China are both countries — or, in the words of President William Lai (賴清德), they are not subordinate to each other.
The Nationality Act (國籍法) stipulates that “a national of the ROC who acquires the nationality of another country shall have no right to hold government offices of the ROC.”
Therefore, people must renounce their foreign nationality — Chinese included — if they hope to serve as a legislator. Article 3 of the Legislators’ Conduct Act (立法委員行為法) states that it is the responsibility of legislators to perform duties on behalf of nationals, and should therefore observe the Constitution and be loyal to the nation.
Additionally, according to Article 2 of the Oath Act (宣誓條), legislators are required to take the oath outlined in the act, including the content: “I do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will observe the Constitution, be loyal to the nation, and perform duties on behalf of nationals without playing favorites and committing irregularities, pursuing personal profits, taking bribes, or interfering in the judicial process. Should I break my oath, I shall be willing to submit myself to the severest punishment.”
To be loyal to the nation, however, could one really possess the nationality of another country? How can you truly be loyal as a foreign national?
It is entirely logical that legislators must first renounce foreign nationality before taking office.
However, if Li wants to renounce her PRC nationality, obtaining the necessary documents might prove difficult. Article 16 of the Chinese nationality law states: “Applications for ... renunciation of Chinese nationality are subject to examination and approval by the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China. The Ministry of Public Security shall issue a certificate to any person whose application has been approved.”
In this situation, it is unlikely that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security would approve Li’s application and provide her with the documents to renounce her PRC nationality.
There might be a workaround: When Li takes her oath of office to become a legislator, she could publicly present a document indicating her intent to renounce her Chinese nationality. In fact, Article 9, Section 4 of the Nationality Act states: “A foreign national may be exempted from submitting a certificate of loss of original nationality if ... he/she cannot obtain a certificate of loss of original nationality for reasons not attributable to himself/herself.”
If she wishes to serve as a legislator, but does not renounce her Chinese nationality, the situation would become even more tangled.
Yu Ying-fu is a lawyer and professor of law at Fu Jen Catholic University.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
Taiwan aims to elevate its strategic position in supply chains by becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) hub for Nvidia Corp, providing everything from advanced chips and components to servers, in an attempt to edge out its closest rival in the region, South Korea. Taiwan’s importance in the AI ecosystem was clearly reflected in three major announcements Nvidia made during this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei. First, the US company’s number of partners in Taiwan would surge to 122 this year, from 34 last year, according to a slide shown during CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech on Monday last week.
On May 13, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of nuclear reactors from 40 to 60 years, thereby providing a legal basis for the extension or reactivation of nuclear power plants. On May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators used their numerical advantage to pass the TPP caucus’ proposal for a public referendum that would determine whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should resume operations, provided it is deemed safe by the authorities. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has