A Shanghai-born legislative hopeful from the opposition Taiwan People’s Party has rejected claims that she is a former Communist Party member and not suitable to be a lawmaker.
Xu Chunying is married to a Taiwanese man and an advocate for overseas-born spouses in Taiwan.
Xu, who obtained her Taiwanese citizenship 23 years ago and has lived in Taiwan for 30 years, said on Sunday that she had never been a Communist Party member or mainland official.
“I have never been a CCP member and I didn’t even join the Communist Youth League of China,” she said.
“I am willing to revoke my Taiwanese citizenship and be expelled if proven I have been a CCP member before.”
Xu, head of the Taiwan New Residents Development Association, is understood to be in consideration to be a TPP candidate for one of its “at large” legislative seats.
The mainland-friendly party has yet to name its candidates for the 34 at-large seats, which are allocated proportionally to each party rather than by constituency.
She said she gave up her mainland citizenship immediately after she obtained her official citizenship status on the island as required by Taiwanese law.
Xu said all she wanted to do if she joined the legislature was to “help promote the rights and welfare” of overseas spouses living on the island.
She also said Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai Ching-te owed her an explanation if he did not provide evidence of the claims.
When Xi and Biden talk at Apec, managing Taiwan will top the agenda
When Xi and Biden talk at Apec, managing Taiwan will top the agenda
At a campaign rally in Hsinchu, south of Taipei on October 29, Lai, the presidential front runner from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, claimed Xu was a member of the Communist Party on the Chinese mainland.
“Once she becomes an at-large legislator and enters the parliament, she will be able to supervise government administration, and review budgets,” Lai said.
“[Xu would] have access to top classified documents concerning our national defence and foreign relations,” he said, saying this would pose a security threat to Taiwan.
Wang Ting-yu, a legislator of the independence-leaning DPP, also accused Xu of being a mainland Chinese official and Communist Party cadre who had been active in political activities on the mainland.
“[Xu] has retained her Chinese nationality … Would it be absurd if she becomes a legislative member in Taiwan?” he said.
Asked to comment on the controversy, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau director Tsai Ming-yen said on Monday that the island’s authorities respected any activities on the island organised by or involving mainland-born spouses as long as the events were legal.
“But if any of the activities are found to have been conducted with the ‘united front’ motive associated with those of the Chinese communists or related to developing [espionage] organisations in Taiwan, those involved would be subject to prosecution and judicial punishment,” he said.
The united front refers to the mainland’s outreach and influence strategy.
An estimated 380,000 people born on the mainland are married to Taiwanese, with more than 600,000 children from those marriages.
“With such a population, why can’t mainland spouses and their children have their own spokesperson in Taiwan?” said Ko Wen-je, TTP chairman and the party’s presidential candidate.
“Why should some people be defined as enemies right from the start?” Ko said, adding that as long as those spouses identified themselves as Taiwanese and loved Taiwan, they should not be treated as foes.
Taiwan and mainland China have been rivals since the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must be brought back in control, by force if necessary. It suspended official exchanges with the island in 2016 following the DPP government’s refusal to accept the one-China principle.
The legislative and presidential races will be held on January 13.
