Beijing is attempting to exert the illusion of legal sovereignty over Taiwan by making it seem as though thousands of Taiwanese have applied for Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday.
In a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics, YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) interviewed Lin Jincheng (林金城), head of the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province, who has been assisting Taiwanese with Chinese ID applications, and said that 200,000 Taiwanese had obtained the cards over the past decade.
Asked in a radio interview yesterday whether the number of Taiwanese holding Chinese ID cards mentioned in the video is correct, Chiu said that the government “is not sure,” but would handle the matter cautiously.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Over the past 10 years, 679 Taiwanese have had their household registration papers, ID cards and passports invalidated after they obtained a Chinese passport or household registration, he said.
In a rare release of official data from 2018, Beijing said that 22,000 Taiwanese had applied for household residence in China, Chiu said.
The minister cautioned Taiwanese against applying for Chinese ID cards, citing the lack of personal data protections in the country.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior on Thursday said it has sent letters to district offices urging them to handle cases of borough chiefs with Chinese nationality in accordance with the law.
There are five such cases, which should be handled in accordance with the Nationality Act (國籍法) or Household Registration Act (戶籍法), Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
There are benefits for Chinese spouses of Taiwanese upon settling in Taiwan, but to participate in politics they must hold only Taiwanese citizenship, Liu said.
Since it takes time to renounce citizenship, there is a one-year grace period after being elected, she said.
However, many people do not comply with this regulation, leading to them being removed from elected positions, she said.
This happened to former Nantou County councilor Shi Xueyan (史雪燕), who was dismissed by the ministry for contravening the Nationality Act.
When Shi became a county councilor in 2021, she signed a declaration of allegiance to the Constitution, but failed to renounce her Chinese nationality within one year, Liu said.
Notices regarding the requirement were sent to all cities and counties in 2009 and again this year, she said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus has accused the government of stripping 300,000 Chinese spouses of their political participation rights and unconstitutionally enforcing a new “two-state theory.”
All people from China are also nationals of Taiwan, KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said.
The revocation of public office has nothing to do with the “two-state theory” and Weng’s remarks reflect the past mistakes of many agencies, MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said.
At a separate news conference yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on the public not to hand over their personal information to China.
Taiwanese who apply for a resident permit in China have to provide their fingerprint and facial recognition data, which is sensitive biological information, DPP Legislator Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) said.
DPP China Affairs Director Wu Jun-zhi (吳峻鋕) said there is a possibility that China is learning from the Ukraine war, turning Taiwanese into Chinese nationals to use this as an excuse to wage war on Taiwan in the future.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua, Kayleigh Madjar and CNA
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