Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators have proposed a bill that would ban Chinese who obtain Taiwanese citizenship from running for office if they fail to produce documents showing that they have renounced their Chinese nationality.
DPP legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) proposed the bill to amend the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) following media reports that the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) considered nominating Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) — a Chinese immigrant who has lived in Taiwan for 30 years and obtained Republic of China citizenship through marriage 23 years ago — for its legislators-at-large list.
The reported nomination of Xu, who chairs the Taiwan New Residents’ Development Association, caused a public uproar, as she has allegedly voiced support for unification with Taiwan and allegedly has not yet renounced her Chinese nationality.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
The proposed amendment was submitted to the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee for review on Friday.
Currently, the act only requires Chinese nationals who have Taiwanese identification cards to cancel their household registrations in China and be registered with a household in Taiwan for more than 10 years before they are allowed to run for public office, without having to renounce their Chinese nationality, Wang and Lin said in their bill.
However, the Nationality Act (國籍法) requires those serving in public offices to hold only Taiwanese nationality as they are obligated to demonstrate loyalty to the country.
“The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area not only contravenes the constitutional principle of equality by treating Chinese and Taiwanese differently, it has reduced the loyalty requirement in the Nationality Act to an unenforceable law,” they said.
The legislators proposed that Chinese nationals with Taiwanese citizenship show proof that they have renounced their Chinese nationality before they are allowed to work in government or run for public office.
Wang and Lin also proposed an amendment to Article 16 of the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例) to require residents from the Chinese territories to show documents proving they have renounced their Chinese nationality before they can register as political candidates in Taiwan, form political parties and work in government, academic institutions and state-run business organizations.
The legislators said that Hong Kong and Macau have demonstrated major political, economic and social differences from Taiwan after returning to China’s governance.
Currently, residents from the territories who are permitted to enter Taiwan are allowed to register as candidates for public office, serve in the military and organize political parties if they have maintained a registered domicile in Taiwan for 10 years, while those who have entered Taiwan with permission must have a household registration for one full year before they can join the military, run for office or form political parties.
DPP Legislator Tang Hui-jane (湯蕙禎) also proposed an amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area that would ban certain Chinese nationals from serving in the Taiwanese military or working in intelligence and defense agencies, including those who currently or previously worked for the Chinese government, Chinese news media or the Chinese Communist Party.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the