The Central Election Commission (CEC) last night decided to revoke former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee’s (李慶安) elected status both as a Taipei City councilor and as a legislator, after the US Department of State on Thursday confirmed that Lee’s US citizenship was still valid.
“The CEC believes that Diane Lee was a dual citizen between 1991 and 2005, and thus decided in a meeting today [Friday] to revoke her elected status as Taipei City councilor in 1994, and as legislator in 1999, 2002 and 2005,” CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) said. “We will also void her elected certificates.”
Although Lee was re-elected as a legislator last year, Teng said the CEC could do nothing about her latest term because of changes to the nationality clause. This used to be in the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) — hence under the CEC’s jurisdiction — but was moved to the Nationality Act (國籍法) in November 2007, so is now the responsibility of the National Immigration Agency.
Teng said the CEC decision came as a result of a vote in which eight members voted for the action while three voted against it.
“The CEC made the decision based on a letter from the US Department of State that said it had completed a probe into Lee’s dual-citizenship case, and believes that Lee did not fulfill her duty to show her intention to give up US citizenship when she first took public office in Taiwan in 1994,” Teng said.
Lee’s laywer, Lee Yung-ran (李永然), protested the CEC’s decision.
“Diane Lee was legally elected ... The CEC, as an institution in the executive branch, has no right to revoke that election,” Lee Yung-ran said. “If the CEC thinks there’s a problem, they should take it to the courts and let the judiciary decide.”
Lee Yung-ran added that Diane Lee was considering legal action against the CEC’s “illegal decision.”
KMT-recommended commission member Liu Kuang-hua (劉光華) and People First Party-recommended commission member Chao Shu-chien (趙叔鍵) supported Lee Yung-ran’s view that it should be a court, not the commission, that makes the final decision.
The dual-citizenship allegation against Diane Lee first surfaced last March. At the time, she argued that by taking an oath as a public official when she was first elected as Taipei City councilor in 1994 she lost her US citizenship.
Diane Lee promised in December that she would provide a legal document proving that she longer had US citizenship by the end of last month. However, she resigned as a legislator on Jan. 8 and failed to show any document supporting her claim by Jan. 31.
Although her election was revoked, Teng said the CEC cannot require her to return the NT$100 million (US$3 million) she received in salary as a city councilor and lawmaker, as “it’s the city council and the Legislative Yuan that have the power to do so.”
“The revocation would not affect any legislative ... power Diane Lee has exercised during her terms in office because her election was ‘revoked’ not ‘invalidated’ — meaning that she exercised power legitimately when she was in office,” Teng said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged KMT legislators and KMT Taipei city councilors to recover the salary Lee earned from 1991 to 2005.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the CEC’s decision showed the KMT-dominated legislature’s refusal to relieve Lee of her status as a legislator was wrong.
KMT caucus whip Chang Shuo-wen (張碩文) said the CEC was responsible for the controversy.
“The CEC is a government institution that reviews if someone is qualified to become a candidate,” Cheng said. “So this whole mess .... was because the CEC wasn’t careful in reviewing a candidate’s qualifications.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers