Hualien County’s Syuetian Village (學田) Warden Teng Wan-hua (鄧萬華) yesterday said she would file an administrative appeal against the Fuli Township (富里) Office’s decision to remove her from the post due to her People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationality.
Teng is one of the five borough or village wardens the Ministry of the Interior identified as having Chinese nationality. The township office officially discharged Teng on Friday, in accordance with the Nationality Act (國籍法).
Teng was born in China. She married a Taiwanese and moved to Taiwan 28 years ago, and obtained her Taiwanese ID card 17 years ago.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
She first ran for Syuetian Village warden in Fuli Township in 2022.
China does not acknowledge Taiwanese nationality and refused to grant her documents to substantiate her renunciation of Chinese citizenship, Teng said.
“I called the public security authority of Chongqing only to be told that, ‘Given that we do not acknowledge your Taiwanese nationality, how can you relinquish it [her Chinese citizenship]?’” she said. “It is not that I am not willing to provide the documents, I just cannot.”
Article 20 of the act stipulates that “a national of the Republic of China [ROC, Taiwan] who acquired the nationality of another country shall have no right to hold government offices of the ROC,” and that village or borough wardens who have another nationality could be discharged.
However, Teng cited Article 10 as saying that restrictions on naturalized foreign nationals holding a government office “shall be lifted after ten years from the date of naturalization,” and added that she ran for village warden in accordance with the act.
The misinterpretation of Article 20 led to her dismissal, she said, adding that she did not receive her salary for two months.
Teng said she lost not only a job, but also her income to support her family, which she needs, especially as her husband is seriously ill and her children are still minors.
She said she would like to sign an affidavit declaring that she would never resume her Chinese citizenship, return to her hometown in China nor contact her relatives there.
“I did not break the law. All I want is to continue to serve the villagers and live a normal life,” Teng said.
A township office source yesterday said that all Teng could do is to request revocation of her household registration in China, but that according to the ministry, it would not be enough to prove she had lost her Chinese nationality.
Although controversies regarding what “loss of Chinese nationality” means continue and a societal consensus is lacking, the township office still had to oust Teng and appoint someone else, in accordance with Article 82 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法).
Fuli Township Mayor Chiang Tung-cheng (江東成) yesterday said the ministry has repeatedly asked the township office to handle Teng’s dismissal based on the act, despite the township office offering a different perspective.
According to the Act Governing the 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), Taiwan and China are “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait” rather than “two countries,” he said.
That led to Teng being unable to relinquish her Chinese citizenship and China refusing to grant her such a certificate, Chiang said.
Chiang said he considered Chinese spouses to have no “foreign nationality” based on current laws, although the Mainland Affairs Council would say that Taiwan is a country.
It would be more appropriate to let the court decide, he said.
The council yesterday said that an ROC national with nationality of another country cannot assume public service positions.
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