Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) China-born Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) announced on Thursday that she has turned down the opportunity of being included on the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large nomination 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 Taiwan’s January 2024 election, with the aim to boost support from China-born individuals in Taiwan.
Speaking at a TPP press conference on “cultural policies for integrating diverse ethnic groups,” Xu said that she had turned down the “possible nomination” by the party two days ago.
According to Taiwan law, as a naturalized citizen who has held a Taiwan ID card for at least 10 years, Xu is eligible to run for office as a citizen of the Republic of China (Taiwan), but there has been debate over whether she could actually be able to serve if she won.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which handles China policy, announced on Nov. 6 that China-born individuals are required to renounce their Chinese citizenship if elected to public office.
However, this is a requirement Xu likely cannot fulfill because Taiwan and China do not recognize each other as independent sovereign countries, leaving no mechanism for China-born nationals like Xu to renounce their Chinese citizenship even after they have obtained Taiwan citizenship.
The TPP initially approached her to chair the new residents’ committee, according to Xu, who is currently the chairperson of the “Taiwan New Residents Development Association” (台灣新住民發展協會).
In Taiwan, “new resident” refers to individuals who immigrate permanently to Taiwan.
However, when the TPP list of legislator-at-large nominees was leaked, reports emerged that accused her of having links to the Chinese Communist Party, Xu lamented. Xu has repeatedly denied ever being a CCP member.
When asked about her Chinese citizenship, Xu said she is not a Chinese passport holder. She added that the only time she applied for a Chinese passport was in 1988 when she intended to study abroad and that it expired in 1993.
Following her marriage to a Taiwanese man and settling down in the country, she did not need a Chinese passport so she never sought to renew it, Xu explained.
According to the MAC, at present, three elected village chiefs in Taiwan are China-born.
CNA has asked the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for overseeing matters related to the Nationality Act, multiple times since Monday as to 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 Yuelan (滕月蘭), a village chief from Tucheng District, New Taipei, who was born in China, told CNA on Monday that she had not been required to provide a certificate confirming the renunciation of her Chinese citizenship when elected.
