Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators have proposed a bill that would ban Chinese who obtain Taiwanese citizenship from running for office if they fail to produce documents showing that they have renounced their Chinese nationality.
DPP legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) proposed the bill to amend the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) following media reports that the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) considered nominating Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) — a Chinese immigrant who has lived in Taiwan for 30 years and obtained Republic of China citizenship through marriage 23 years ago — for its legislators-at-large list.
The reported nomination of Xu, who chairs the Taiwan New Residents’ Development Association, caused a public uproar, as she has allegedly voiced support for unification with Taiwan and allegedly has not yet renounced her Chinese nationality.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
The proposed amendment was submitted to the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee for review on Friday.
Currently, the act only requires Chinese nationals who have Taiwanese identification cards to cancel their household registrations in China and be registered with a household in Taiwan for more than 10 years before they are allowed to run for public office, without having to renounce their Chinese nationality, Wang and Lin said in their bill.
However, the Nationality Act (國籍法) requires those serving in public offices to hold only Taiwanese nationality as they are obligated to demonstrate loyalty to the country.
“The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area not only contravenes the constitutional principle of equality by treating Chinese and Taiwanese differently, it has reduced the loyalty requirement in the Nationality Act to an unenforceable law,” they said.
The legislators proposed that Chinese nationals with Taiwanese citizenship show proof that they have renounced their Chinese nationality before they are allowed to work in government or run for public office.
Wang and Lin also proposed an amendment to Article 16 of the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例) to require residents from the Chinese territories to show documents proving they have renounced their Chinese nationality before they can register as political candidates in Taiwan, form political parties and work in government, academic institutions and state-run business organizations.
The legislators said that Hong Kong and Macau have demonstrated major political, economic and social differences from Taiwan after returning to China’s governance.
Currently, residents from the territories who are permitted to enter Taiwan are allowed to register as candidates for public office, serve in the military and organize political parties if they have maintained a registered domicile in Taiwan for 10 years, while those who have entered Taiwan with permission must have a household registration for one full year before they can join the military, run for office or form political parties.
DPP Legislator Tang Hui-jane (湯蕙禎) also proposed an amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area that would ban certain Chinese nationals from serving in the Taiwanese military or working in intelligence and defense agencies, including those who currently or previously worked for the Chinese government, Chinese news media or the Chinese Communist Party.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS