A Long-lived Lie That Costs More Than A Bunch of New Lies
by Taimocracy 2014.05.19
Amid Taiwan’s heated
Presidential Campaign 2008, Ma Ying-jeou (MYJ) was accused of possessing the US
Permanent Resident (PR) status.
Ma immediately retorted that none of his family members possessed Green Card, but then had to admit that his two daughters were born U.S. citizens while his wife and he had “abandoned” their Green Cards more than 20 years before. The reckless princeling said that their green cards “automatically went invalid,” though there is no such thing in U.S. immigration regulations. Anyway, he dodged the mishap and got elected president with the aid of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the quasi-U.S. embassy, which insisted on its neutral posture and made no comment out of respect for Ma’s precious privacy.
Ma immediately retorted that none of his family members possessed Green Card, but then had to admit that his two daughters were born U.S. citizens while his wife and he had “abandoned” their Green Cards more than 20 years before. The reckless princeling said that their green cards “automatically went invalid,” though there is no such thing in U.S. immigration regulations. Anyway, he dodged the mishap and got elected president with the aid of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the quasi-U.S. embassy, which insisted on its neutral posture and made no comment out of respect for Ma’s precious privacy.
However, people stayed
suspicious and raised the same issue four years later when Ma ran for a second
term. During her stay in the U.S., Miss
Tsai Ying-wen, the other candidate for the Presidential Campaign 2012,
protested to the U.S. government that Ma’s related information in the U.S.
official webpages could no longer be reached as ever. Tsai presumed that it must have been removed
or classified by the U.S authorities, but there was nothing she could do about
Ma’s atypical privilege.
Now, in 2014, the U.S.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will enact the Foreign Account Tax Compliance
Act (FATCA) on June 1st, which stipulates that U.S citizens and
permanent residents around the world have to file all their account information
and income to the U.S government. Ma’s
long-lived lie about his green card has emerged again to embarrass his office. On May 14th, Taiwan-based Next
Magazine published an article saying that Ma, to the shame of all the
citizens, might have to file his tax return to the U.S. government due to
FATCA.
This time AIT
amazingly proves capable of a lot more than just keeping quiet and hiding the
information. AIT spokesperson Mark V.
Zimmer sprang to Ma’s defense. Soon after the Presidential Hall held a press
conference to deny the report, Mr.
Zimmer did the same thing, adding
that only MYJ himself could possibly know when and how his green card
was cancelled. The following day, the
Presidential Hall held another press conference to show a reply letter from
Joseph R. Donovan Jr, the Managing Director of AIT, who confirmed to Shen
Lyu-shun, the Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECRO):
“We have previously been informed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s abandonment of
his former legal permanent resident status has long been included in appropriated
U.S. immigration system records. This
issue is therefore closed.”
Unfortunately, the
reply letter raised new doubt.
Ever since 2008, MYJ
has defended his loyalty to Taiwan by claiming that his green card had gone
“invalid automatically” because of the time due, which means he did not abandon
his PR status officially and thus might still possess it. However, Donovan ’s
reply confirmed the other way that Ma has “officially abandoned” his PR status. So, who is/are lying?
If Ma has lost his PR
status of the U.S., when, where, how, and in what form did MYJ lose his PR
status of the U.S.? Obviously, neither
MYJ nor Donovan has ever offered solid proof or
official documents, e.g. the I-401, to support their contradictory arguments.
Probably to make up
for the weak verification, the media in Taiwan circulated on May 16th the
news that an anonymous official of U.S. Department of State confirmed, “The
United States has long recognized President Ma Ying-jeou 's
abandonment of U.S. legal permanent resident status. That matter is closed.” The statement quoted from nowhere emphasized
again that MYJ has lost his U.S. permanent residency a “long” time ago. Yet, no similar information could be
retrieved from the official web pages of the Department of State.
It is a custom of
journalists to cite information from anonymous resources, if the government
tends to indirectly confirm scandals or to fly a kite for new policies. Yet MYJ’s U.S. PR status is no such case. If the U.S. government deems it as a fact, there
is just no need to do it anonymously.
Donovan’s letter shown
in the press conference, nevertheless, is the most intriguing part. It is most likely just a personal letter with
no official authority. First, it had no
official reference number though Donovan ’s signature
was followed by his AIT title. Moreover,
if it was an official reply letter to TECRO, the inquiry letter should be
released for the press too, so that the public would be able to know when and
with what status, official or private, Representative Shen sent the letter in
the first place.
Anyway, the whole
event casts doubt on the role of the U.S. government. The U.S. seems to have shifted her official
stance from taking no sides in 2008 to a quick support of Ma in 2014. What has happened?..Has the U.S. openly
reversed her longstanding official position that she will not interfere in
domestic cases in other countries? Are
U.S. public servants challenging, or being instructed to challenge, this
diplomatic tradition?
Six years ago Miss Tsai Ying-wen got an elusive answer from Stephen M.
Young , then Director of the
American Institute in Taiwan: “in general terms that cases involving green card
status are complex.” An AIT reply letter
that has no reference number and contradicts Ma’s “automatic invalidation” is
indeed a very complex irregularity.
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