China-born Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), a potential Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislative candidate, on Sunday denied that she had ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“I am not a member of the CCP, and never have been. I did not even join the Communist Youth League of China,” Xu told a news conference in Taipei held in response to comments made by Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate.
“Does he [Lai] have any evidence?” asked Xu, who has lived in Taiwan for 30 years.
Photo: CNA
She added that she was never a CPP official, a claim that appeared in a 2016 local media report.
Asked how she was chosen by the TPP, Xu, who is chairwoman of the Taiwan New Residents Development Association, said the party initially asked whether she would be willing to chair its new resident committee if it established one.
“New resident” refers to foreigners who marry a Taiwanese and settle down in Taiwan.
At the time, the TPP mentioned that the committee chairperson might also be on a list of legislator-at-large candidates, Xu said.
In response to a statement from the TPP that Xu was being considered as a potential legislator-at-large candidate, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) on Oct. 31, citing regulations, said that Chinese who are married to Taiwanese nationals and have held a Taiwanese ID card for at least 10 years are eligible to register as candidates for public office.
Before assuming the position, they are required to provide documentation proving that they have renounced citizenship to any other country, he said.
On Sunday, Xu showed her Taiwanese ID card, which she received in 2000, and her Taiwanese passport.
Xu pledged to follow the Constitution, and said that she should be able enjoy the benefits of being a Taiwanese citizen.
She slammed Chiu’s comments and questioned the feasibility of renouncing her Chinese citizenship.
Xu said that, under Taiwanese law, neither side of the Strait acknowledges the other’s statehood.
As Taiwan and China do not recognize each other as independent, sovereign countries, people born in China, such as Xu, are unable to renounce their Chinese citizenship even after they have obtained Taiwanese citizenship.
However, to acquire Taiwanese citizenship and an ID card, they must relinquish their Chinese household registration status, passport and ID card, meaning that in practice, they are unable to enjoy the same rights as Chinese citizens.
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