Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) said in a front page story yesterday that the Hsieh camp had been informed late on Thursday night of Ma's move to send an unnamed aide to the AIT.
At a press conference yesterday morning, the Hsieh camp declined to reveal its informant and did not name the aide, but said it had tried to verify the information it obtained through the AIT and "other reliable channels," the report said.
"We were concerned when we heard the response from the AIT, which told us it could not confirm it. The AIT did not deny it either. We thought there must be something fishy going on," Hsieh's spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) told the press conference.
When approached by reporters for comment at a campaign event in Taipei's Da'an Park, Ma said he had not sent any aides to the AIT on Thursday to fill out public Form I-407 for him.
Ma accused the Hsieh camp of making false accusations for political gains.
"It's totally untrue," Ma said, accusing a "certain newspaper" of cooperating with Hsieh's camp by spreading rumors to manipulate voters.
Hsieh has alleged that Ma still has a valid US green card because he never completed a Form I-407 to relinquish his permanent residency in the US, nor has a US immigration court invalidated his card.
Ma has repeatedly dismissed the claim, saying that his green card automatically became invalid in the late 1980s after he started traveling to the US on visitor's visas.
The Central Election Commission said on Feb. 15 that it would employ the help of foreign diplomatic missions in Taiwan to check whether either of the two presidential candidates holds foreign citizenship. Both have formally consented to the probe.
Ma's campaign team held a press conference at his campaign headquarter's yesterday morning, rebutting the Liberty Times' report.
Ma's spokesman Tsai Shih-ping (蔡詩萍) accused the Hsieh camp of making false accusations and said Hsieh and his staff should apologize.
The Ma camp wants nothing to do with Hsieh's smear tactics, Tsai said.
Hsieh's camp responded by holding a second press conference, during which Chao identified Ma's aide only as a former diplomat surnamed Feng, who had been instructed by Ma to go to the AIT.
Feng was at the AIT all afternoon, Chao said, calling on Ma to explain why Feng went there and what he had done.
Chao was referring to the former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who now serves on Ma's campaign team as the director of the international affairs section.
"Whether Feng was at the AIT to help Ma fill out Form I-407 or for other formalities [a US green card holder has to] go through to invalidate the card, as an informant had told us, we want Ma to tell the truth," Chao said.
"Could it be that Ma wanted to resolve his green card problem secretly, sending Feng to the AIT on a national holiday instead of a business day?" he asked.
"What the informant told us was what he himself heard from Feng. Before we made any allegations, we determined the context in which the dialogue took place as well as the nature of the relationship between Feng and the informant," he said. "The informant did not overhear this by accident."
The informant learned that Feng felt "relieved" after leaving the AIT, telling the informant in private that "the green card problem was finally solved" Chao said.
In response, the Ma camp held a second press conference later in the day, with Feng in attendance.
Feng conceded that he had met AIT officials on Thursday, but said it was to discuss the election and other political matters. He also said the meeting was at the Grand Hotel, not at the AIT.
"I did not go to the AIT on that day," he told the press conference. "I did not discuss Ma's green card with the officials or fill out Form I-407 during our meeting."
He and the official discussed the presidential election and Feng took the occasion to reiterate Ma's request that the AIT tell the media that his green card is invalid.
Feng said Ma sent a letter to the AIT last week requesting that the AIT provide documentation showing that his green card was invalid.
"I meet AIT officials regularly, so it's normal," Feng said.
Asked if he knew in advance that Feng intended to meet AIT officials, Ma said at a separate setting yesterday that it was Feng's job to establish contacts and relations with foreign media and representatives. It is unnecessary for Feng to report about every private meeting he has with AIT officials, Ma said.
With regard to the discrepancies between the accounts provided by the informant and Feng, Chao said the Hsieh camp would attempt to verify the details.
"I suspect that Feng only told part of the truth. He must have concealed many facts," Chao said.
Commenting on the matter yesterday, Hsieh questioned Ma's credibility.
"In the morning, Ma called the report a serious accusation, but in the afternoon, his camp admitted that the meeting took place," Hsieh said. "Ma always modifies his previous remarks. He has no credibility whatsoever. How would people relax with such an unreliable person leading the country?"
Asked for comment, AIT Spokesman Thomas Hodges said: "When it comes to the Taiwan presidential election, the position of the American Institute in Taipei and the US government is neutral."
He said the AIT was closed on Thursday because of the holiday.
Ma's campaign team issued a statement late last night demanding Chao offer an apology within 28 days or else it would file a suit.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
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