The Law of the Republic of China on the Election and Removal of the President and Vice-President clearly states that naturalized citizens are not allowed to run for the presidency or vice-presidency.
I know there are countries in the world that also do not allow naturalized citizens to run for president, such as the United States, Brazil, and the Philippines.
Do you think this kind of provision is reasonable?
I think the rationale is that it’s too easy for a foreign enemy agent to naturalize and run for president.
Much harder for a foreign enemy agent to give birth to a child in Taiwan, raise them to hate Taiwan, force them to run for president many years later once they become adults, and then manipulate them once they become president.
Does any native-born ROC citizen necessarily defend the ROC? I don’t think so.
I think a lot of pro-communist politicians in the Pan-Blue Coalition are native-born ROC citizens.
There is no such thing as “those born in one’s own country are necessarily loyal to it”.
On the contrary, I believe that naturalized citizens should love the country more than native-born citizens. After all, one cannot decide where one is born, but one can decide where one immigrates.
Nope, but my first point still stands. There are significantly more foreign-born enemies of Taiwan in the world than native-born ones.
The State should not prohibit all naturalized citizens from running for president because they are more likely to commit treason than native-born citizens.
Voters are not stupid. If a naturalized citizen candidate for president is disloyal to the country, the voters just don’t vote for him.
This is also my take. It simply adds an extra barrier to what would otherwise be way to damn easy.
Personally, I am not against this rule. Especially in a country likeTaiwan with all the foreign pressure to take over said country. It seems quite logical.
Including the CCP. this already happens enough, as is. no reason to allow them to become president. Bad enough we already have pro CCP goverment parties and officials. Cost of being a free country. however, when the world unites and stomps out the CCP’s insanity, only then we might be able to discuss a fair a righteous involvement with foreigners coming to be president of Taiwan. This isnt really controversial given the reality.
Now there’s a bold claim…
I’m curious. Could a person born in China who got through the process of changing to a ROC hukou thereotically become the Taiwanese president? I think the answer should be yes, since they are not a naturalized citizen.
There’s already 1 naturalized Japanese peesident, one naturalized British national president, and 3 naturalized Chinese presidents.
No, according to Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act Section 3, Article 20:
- Anyone who restores the ROC nationality or acquires the ROC nationality by naturalization or the people in the People’s Republic of China or the residents in Hong Kong and Macao who are permitted to enter Taiwan may not be registered as the candidate for President or Vice President.
You’d be surprised…
Yes and no. Depends on how much they manage to manipulate the narrative. Many democracies have jailed their top leaders for all sorts of terrible crimes, yet plenty of voters still support them.
The law did not exist until 1995, and the exclusion of former Hong Kong and Macau residents was enacted in 2003. I don’t know how Ma Ying-jeou got away with it…
You also cannot run as a Dual National so for those who have both you are also ruled out.
You know why Arnold Schwarzenegger could not run for US President as a naturalized citizen? Look what happened the last time another Austrian become a citizen of another country, Germany in that case.
The real issue for me is whether someone was born in Taiwan (although I’m aware that that’s not a requirement).
Lee Teng-hui, born in Taiwan, brought self-government to Taiwan.
Ma Ying-jeou, born elsewhere, openly declared his desire for unification with autocratic China.
One more example, that of a non-President, Wang Jin-pyng (Speaker of the Legislative Yuan):
Wang Jin-pyng, born in Taiwan, allowed members of the Sunflower Student Movement to occupy the Legislative building in protest against the proposed Service Trade Agreement, and protected them against being removed by the authorities.
Of course life has its uncertainties, but I believe that in general, Taiwan’s interests stand a better chance of being protected when those interests are under the care of people born in Taiwan.
What about born in Taiwan but raised in China since one year old?
Bearing in mind that I was born far from Taiwan, so for practical purposes, my opinion is really worthless:
Hmm, that’s a puzzle. But I believe that additional residency requirements (i. e., additional to having been born in Taiwan) would just clutter things up. So “born in Taiwan” should be adequate.
I’m asking because someone born in Taiwan but raised in mainland China since early childhood, for example, would probably be a mainland patriot.
Then they need to be able to say “I support self-determination of the peoples of Taiwan, Tibet, East Turkestan, and Inner Mongolia” in front of the camera and a CCTV reporter to be eligible to run for president.