Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) was granted permission not to respond to questions from Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) during Li’s first legislative inquiry yesterday, as questions over her eligibility to serve continued to loom.
Although Li has held a Taiwanese ID card for more than 10 years and registered as a candidate for TPP’s legislators-at-large in 2023, the ministry’s records showed she did not complete the renunciation of Chinese citizenship until March last year and that she had dual citizenship when she registered as a candidate.
The rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法施行細則) require candidates to sign a declaration stating that they do not possess household registration in China, Chinese passport or nationality of any other country.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Li was reported to have falsely claimed having only Taiwanese citizenship when she was sworn into office last month.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) ruled following a cross-caucus negotiation last week that Li’s status and authority as legislator should be respected until the issues have been settled through judicial proceedings.
Li repeatedly attempted to put Liu on the stand during the Legislature’s Internal Administration Committee meeting yesterday, her first inquiry after becoming a Taiwanese legislator.
However, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Po-yi (李柏毅), who presided over the meeting, said Li’s right to speak at the committee would be respected, but Executive Yuan officials were entitled to not respond to her questions or provide information she requested.
After the meeting, Li accused Liu of humiliating her and Taiwan’s democracy for addressing her as “Mrs.” rather than a legislator. She said the meeting’s conveners should be neutral in the matter regarding her qualifications.
“The legislature is the highest institution that represents the people and the Executive Yuan cannot unilaterally decide, without any legal basis, to deprive a legislator of the right to question government officials simply because of their political affiliation,” Li told reporters.
Liu said during the meeting that Li should say if she is still Chinese, as the ministry has yet to receive documents proving that she had filed an application to renounce her citizenship before she was sworn into office.
“The agencies overseen by the Ministry of the Interior, including the National Police Agency, National Land Management Agency, National Fire Agency have classified documents. As civil servants must be loyal to the country and abide by national security laws, I am afraid we cannot do as she requests,” Liu said, adding that Li might even face criminal charges if she falsely claimed not to possess Chinese citizenship.
The Mainland Affairs Council said Article 21 of 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) allows Chinese nationals to run for and hold public office in Taiwan after having a registered household in Taiwan for 10 years, with the 10-year period beginning after they complete naturalization procedures, including obtaining Taiwanese citizenship and submitting proof of renunciation of Chinese citizenship within the time period.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) has only received a document issued by the public security bureau in China’s Hunan Province in March last year, saying Li had canceled her household registration in China following her marriage in Taiwan in 1993.
The cross-strait laws back then required Chinese nationals to cancel Chinese household registration after obtaining Taiwanese citizenship, which Li did in 1999.
Li was unlikely to have canceled her Chinese household registration before securing Taiwanese citizenship in 1999, the council said.
Following an amendment to Article 9 of the cross-strait act in 2004, Chinese nationals were given six months to submit proof of canceling their Chinese household registration after the amendment was implemented. The time period was later shortened to three months.
The NIA has never received such proof, the council said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS