China-born Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) on Thursday announced that she had turned down an offer to be included on the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large list, ending weeks of controversy over whether she would be able to relinquish her Chinese citizenship and serve if elected.
Xu, who has lived in Taiwan for about 30 years and has been a citizen for 23 years, was under consideration by the TPP to be one of its legislator candidates in the January election.
Speaking at a TPP news conference, Xu said that she had turned down the “possible nomination” by the party two days ago.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
According to law, as a naturalized citizen who has held a Taiwan ID card for at least 10 years, Xu is eligible to run for office, but there has been debate over whether she could actually be able to serve if she won.
The Mainland Affairs Council announced on Nov. 6 that people who were born in China are required to renounce their Chinese citizenship if elected to public office.
However, this is a requirement Xu likely cannot fulfill, as Taiwan and China do not have a mechanism for China-born nationals to renounce their Chinese citizenship.
When the TPP list of legislator-at-large nominees was leaked, reports emerged that accused Xu of having links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Xu said she is not a Chinese passport holder, adding that the only time she applied for a Chinese passport was in 1988 when she intended to study abroad, and that it had expired in 1993.
According to the council, three elected village wardens in Taiwan were born in China.
The Central News Agency has asked the Ministry of the Interior multiple times since Monday whether those three elected civil servants have been obligated to renounce their Chinese citizenship, to which it has consistently responded: “We are still working on our reply.”
Teng Yue-lan (滕月蘭), a village warden from New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), said that she had not been required to provide a certificate confirming the renunciation of her Chinese citizenship when elected.
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