President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he would resign immediately if Chinese National-ist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could provide legal documents proving that his green card had been invalidated years ago.
Chen put his presidency at stake in an interview with Formosa TV last night.
If Ma's green card remains valid, he should give it up by completing all the legal procedures, the president said.
In a televised campaign platform presentation on Friday, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) also said he was willing to apologize and withdraw from the race if Ma could prove that his green card was invalidated 20 years ago.
Ma's US green card status has been a subject of controversy and attacks by Hsieh's campaign.
When Hsieh first raised the issue in late January, Ma initially responded by saying he did not have a green card, but later conceded that he possessed one in 1977 to help him obtain student loans and employment after graduation. He claimed it was automatically invalidated in 1985 when he applied for a visa to travel to the US.
Hsieh said Ma has yet to provide proof to back his claims, adding that he believed Ma still holds a valid green card because he never completed an I-407 form to relinquish his permanent residency nor has a US immigration court invalidated his card.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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