The Ministry of the Interior has asked Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Li Zhengxiu (李貞秀) to submit proof she has applied to renounce Chinese citizenship by today, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
Li’s eligibility to assume public office in Taiwan was called into question after it was reported that she did not begin the process to renounce her Chinese citizenship until March last year, even though she has been living in Taiwan for more than three decades.
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) stipulates that Chinese nationals are eligible to run for public office after they have become a naturalized Taiwanese citizen for 10 years.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
However, the Nationality Act (國籍法) requires all elected officials to renounce non-Taiwanese citizenships within one year of being elected.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference that the ministry notified the Legislative Yuan through official letters on Jan. 28, Tuesday last week and Wednesday that it must submit proof that Li was in the process of renouncing her Chinese citizenship before she was sworn into office last week, adding that the same documents were sent to Li as well.
“In the letter dated on Feb. 11, both the legislature and Li were informed that they need to submit requested documents by Feb. 13,” Lee said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) would later clarify whether Li has completed naturalization procedures, she added.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Tung Chien-hung (董建宏) said that Chinese nationals must abide by Article 20 of the Nationality Act after becoming Taiwanese citizens and running for public office, which requires elected officials to have only Taiwanese citizenship.
“The requirement is non-
negotiable,” Tung said.
Li said that she had received the letters from the ministry, but did not bother to open them, saying the ministry was operating illegally.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that Li’s request to renounce her Chinese citizenship would be denied, meaning that she remains a Chinese citizen.
MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on a morning radio show yesterday that the 10-year registered citizenship requirement under the cross-strait act should be calculated from the date a person fully completes the naturalization process — namely, after obtaining a residency certificate and a Taiwan national ID card, and submitting proof of having renounced their Chinese citizenship.
If Li did not renounce her Chinese citizenship until March last year, that means that she has completed naturalization procedures for less than a year, Chiu said.
MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference yesterday that the council has never encountered any case similar to Li’s, adding that there are issues for the council to clarify.
“However, there are three clear principles in handling cross-strait affairs: First, Chinese nationals cannot run for office in Taiwan. Second, they can register and run in elections only after becoming a registered Taiwanese citizen for 10 years. And third, they have three months to renounce their Chinese citizenship after they become registered Taiwanese citizens and must submit proof to the National Immigration Agency [NIA]. Chinese nationals would only be considered to have completed the naturalization process when they meet all three conditions,” Liang said.
The problem is that the government had never strictly enforced the third condition, even after an amendment to the cross-strait act was passed in 2004, Liang said.
Last year, the council identified about 12,000 cases involving Chinese who neither renounced their Chinese citizenship nor provided proof to the NIA after they became registered Taiwanese citizens, Liang said, adding that it spent an entire year making sure that they fulfill all legal requirements.
“Although Li is now a Taiwanese legislator, she would be treated as other Chinese nationals. There would not be any special treatment for her,” Liang said.
As Li had dual citizenship when she was listed as a legislator-at-large for the TPP, the council would meet with officials with the interior ministry and Central Election Commission after the Lunar New Year holiday to discuss the possibility of setting up a mechanism to vet candidates’ eligibility, particularly if they still have Chinese citizenship, Liang said.
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