Posts falsely claim Taiwan election candidate ineligible to run as 'she holds US citizenship'

"Hsiao Bi-khim did not give up her US citizenship at all, so why didn't anyone look into it!" reads a traditional Chinese-language post shared on Facebook here on December 2, 2023.

Hsiao, from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is the running mate of presidential frontrunner Lai Ching-te for the island's presidential elections in January 2024.

The January 13 vote comes at a time when Beijing has intensified military and diplomatic pressure on the administration of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and China has blasted the pairing of Lai and Hsiao as a "pro-independence duo".

Attached to the Facebook post is a screenshot of what appears to be an article bearing the logo of Chinese Television System (CTS), a local TV station.

A portion of the article, circled in red, says Hsiao -- due to concerns about the impact on her residency status in Taiwan -- was unable to renounce her US citizenship without first obtaining a Taiwanese ID card and a passport with permanent residency.

The self-ruled island does not allow citizens who have dual nationality to hold public office (archived link).

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on December 5, 2023

Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here.

However, the posts omit that the shared article was in fact published more than two decades ago in November 2000 (archived link).

Publicly available records show Hsiao renounced her US citizenship in 2002 when she became a legislator. Taiwan's election committee has also ruled that all candidates standing in the election in January 2024 are eligible to run as none of them have foreign citizenship.

Renounced US citizenship

A keyword search of US federal government records led to a document published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on July 22, 2002 listing people who had recently renounced their US citizenship (archived link).

One of the names listed on the document is "Hsiao Bi-Khim Louise".

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Screenshot of the IRS document showing individuals who had given up US citizenship in the quarter ending June 30, 2002, with Hsiao’s name highlighted by AFP

Hsiao reiterated to local media on December 4, 2023 that she renounced her US citizenship in 2002 and has run for the legislature several times as a Taiwanese national (archived link).

She served four terms as a member of the Legislative Yuan, between February 2002 and January 2008, and from February 2012 until January 2020 (archived link).

The Taiwanese government and election officials have also confirmed Hsiao is eligible to stand in the upcoming election.

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) said on December 4 that all presidential candidates and their running mates contesting the election comply with election regulations, including nationality requirements (archived link).

On December 5, Taiwan's Central Election Commission also said all the candidates complied with the requirements under the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (archived links here and here).

The commission stated that its investigation found that no candidates have foreign nationalities, has had their Taiwanese nationality restored or are naturalised Taiwanese citizens -- conditions that "would make them ineligible to run for office".