Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have proposed a bill that would require Chinese nationals who wish to hold public office in Taiwan to show proof that they have renounced their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship.
DPP legislators Puma Shen (沈伯洋), Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Michelle Lin (林楚茵) last week said they 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) to prevent Chinese operatives from infiltrating the military, government or educational institutions.
Article 20 of the Nationality Act (國籍法) stipulates that people who wish to hold public office must only have Republic of China citizenship.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
Chinese nationals are required to reside in Taiwan for at least 10 years to be eligible to hold public office, serve in public organizations or organize political parties, and live in the country 20 years to serve in intelligence agencies or military organizations. They are not required to show proof that they had renounced their PRC citizenship.
That exception undermines the Nationality Act’s prohibition of dual nationality, the legislators said, adding that their bill would correct the contradiction to protect national security.
The proposed amendment requires that Chinese nationals show proof they renounced their PRC citizenship to run for public office, organize political parties, or serve in public organizations, intelligence agencies or military organizations.
“Individuals with foreign nationality who wish to hold public office in Taiwan must first renounce their original nationality to prove their loyalty to Taiwan,” Shen said. “China is clearly a hostile country, yet current regulations do not explicitly require Chinese to renounce their Chinese citizenship to hold public office.”
The legislators also proposed an amendment to the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) requiring people from Hong Kong and Macau to reside in Taiwan for at least 10 years, and to show proof they renounced their citizenship to run for and hold public office, serve in the military or organize political parties in Taiwan.
“The regulations for Hong Kong and Macau should align with the rules for China,” Shen said.
“China is infiltrating Taiwan by any means necessary and is clearly a hostile force, so there must be clear regulations that those who wish to hold public office must first renounce their original citizenship,” Lin said.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
RSS