None of the candidates in the March 22 election is a citizen of the US or Japan, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday afternoon.
"The commission has received a response from the American Institute in Taiwan stating that none of the candidates -- Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) or Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) -- appears to be a US citizen based on US citizen and immigration records," a CEC statement said.
Hsieh is the Democratic Progressive Party's presidential candidate and Su is his running mate while Ma and Siew represent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The commission was unable to check with the Japanese government because of laws that preclude such inquiries and also because the commission didn't provide Japanese household registration documents.
"Japanese naturalization regulations require [an applicant] renouncing his or her original citizenship before being granted Japanese citizenship," the statement said. "We confirmed with the Ministry of the Interior [in Taipei] that all four are Republic of China citizens and therefore cannot be Japanese citizens."
In late January, Hsieh's campaign accused Ma of holding a US green card, and later provided alleged details of his green card. Ma said he once held a green card but no longer does because it had expired. Hsieh insists that Ma's green card is still valid. Some politicians and commentators have speculated that Ma may even be a US citizen.
"With help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we sent out inquiries on Feb. 25 ? to the US, Japan and the UK," the commission statement said.
Replies from Japan and the US came last Friday, CEC chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature's Home and Nations Committee, and the UK was to reply soon.
Approached for comment during a trip to Pingtung County, Ma said he had already clarified the issue: "I said on Jan. 28 that I do not hold citizenship of the US or any other foreign country."
However, the Hsieh camp said last night that the commission had only asked about Ma's citizenship status in the US, not his green card or permanent residency status. Hsieh spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) urged Ma to offer a clear account on whether he ever had US permanent residency, whether it was still valid or when exactly it was invalidated.
"The people have the right to know," Cheng said. "It is also a matter of honesty. Ma has offered different accounts since we raised the matter."
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Ko Shu-ling
Also see: Presidential election 2008: Hsieh pans KMT's China deals
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS