Documents submitted by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) proving her renunciation of Chinese household registration were “unusual,” but whether she would be allowed to remain in her post is up to the legislature, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said today.
Li, who was born in China and has lived in Taiwan for more than three decades, was sworn in as a TPP legislator-at-large on Feb. 3.
Article 20 of the Nationality Act (國籍法) prohibits people who hold other nationalities from serving in public office.
Photo: Taipei Times
Lawmakers must renounce other citizenships before taking office and complete their renunciation with documentary proof within one year of assuming office.
Li said she traveled to China in March last year to renounce her citizenship, but was rejected.
She said that she would forward the document rejecting her application to renounce her Chinese citizenship to the Ministry of the Interior, showing that renouncing Chinese citizenship is not so simple.
The MAC has said that it has never before encountered a case like Li’s.
Liang today said that the Executive Yuan has made its position clear, but the ultimate decision and legal responsibility lie with the Legislative Yuan.
Procedures are considered incomplete as per the Nationality Act and 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), Liang said.
Under the cross-strait act, Chinese nationals are eligible to run for public office after they have become a naturalized Taiwanese citizen for at least 10 years.
Li said she came to Taiwan in 1993 through marriage and obtained a Taiwanese ID card and household registration in 1999, while also officially canceling her household registration in China’s Hunan Province.
Last year, Li submitted a certificate proving that her household registration in China was canceled on April 26, 1993, although the MAC said that the format and content of the certificate were “unusual” and the council had never seen such wording before.
Therefore, the MAC said it would only recognize the date the certificate was submitted to the National Immigration Agency, which was in March last year.
This means that when Li registered as a TPP legislator-at-large candidate at the end of 2023, she held dual household registrations, contravening the cross-strait act, it added.
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