President William Lai’s (賴清德) government is rife with human rights violations and its abuses of power need to be reined in, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said on Wednesday at the founding of the Anti-Green Human Rights Oppression Action Alliance.
The alliance would provide legal consultation and assistance to people who are “victims of Democratic Progression Party (DPP) oppression,” Lo said, citing the situations of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), former head of the KMT’s Taipei chapter, and Chinese spouses as examples of abuse.
Former Taiwan People’s Party’s chairman Ko, who ran against Lai in last year’s presidential election, is facing charges of alleged corruption dating to his time as Taipei mayor.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Huang has been released on bail amid an investigation into alleged forgery of signatures in a recall campaign targeting two DPP lawmakers.
Lo said that identity issues regarding Chinese spouses were typically handled according to the Act Governing 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).
However, the Lai administration has cited the Nationality Act (國籍法) as the legal basis for creating difficulties for them, he said.
The organization was founded to prevent that type of abuse, he said.
The crux of the question is whether Article 20 of the Nationality Act has the power to deny the right of Chinese spouses who have Taiwanese IDs to participate in politics, said Lee Yue-yang (李岳洋), a lawyer.
In terms of legal governance, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are defined as the “mainland area” and the “Taiwan area,” not two separate states, meaning there is no issue of dual citizenship, Lee said.
Alliance spokesman Tang Ta-chun (唐大鈞) said that Chinese spouses cannot renounce their Chinese citizenship, as both sides of the Strait refuse to acknowledge the sovereignty of the other.
As a country governed by the rule of law, the Republic of China is obliged to provide Chinese spouses who have Taiwanese IDs the same rights and benefits as other Taiwanese, Tang said.
KMT Legislator You Hao (游顥) said that Shi Xueyan (史雪燕) and Deng Wanhua (鄧萬華) had ROC IDs through legal channels and their election wins were in accordance with the law.
Shi won a Nantou County councilor seat, while Teng won an election to be warden of Hualien County’s Syuetian Village (學田). Both had their wins nullified due to lack of evidence that they had revoked their Chinese citizenship.
If no one does nothing now, human rights violations would continue, You said.
KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) said the government’s interpretation of the law was arbitrary and trampled on the human rights of Chinese spouses.
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