image copyrightBBC Chinese/Joy Chang
Taiwan will hold the "nine-in-one" local elections next month. There are 25 "mainland spouses" running for election this year. More than 40% of the candidates do not meet the qualifications of "expelled from the country for 10 years", reducing the number of candidates to 14, which is fewer than the 19 mainland spouses who ran for the last term.
Li Zhenxiu, a former People's Party legislator who ran for mayor of Zhubei City, was one of the unqualified mainland spouses. She applied to the court to retain her qualifications for the election. The judge rejected the application on October 22, but also stated that relevant issues still need to go through tedious evidence investigation, leaving suspense for subsequent legal disputes.
How to calculate the "10 years after deregistration" has become the focus of controversy for many mainland Chinese spouses who were disqualified from running in this election. BBC Chinese checked the official website information of each county and city election committee. In addition to Hsinchu County, Taipei City, Taichung City and Hualien County have examples of mainland candidates who do not meet the "10-year expulsion from citizenship".
Some scholars have analyzed that the threshold for mainland spouses to participate in elections changes with the cross-strait situation and the rotation of political parties in Taiwan. The Democratic Progressive Party government in this election has adopted strict censorship to undermine the willingness of mainland spouses to participate in public affairs and politics, leaving more mainland spouses to only live a "social life" in Taiwan.
Court ruling still leaves suspense
Image source: Facebook/Lee Jung Soo
"Lu Pei" is the common abbreviation for mainland Chinese spouses in Taiwan. In recent years, it has also been called "Chinese Pei" or "Chinese marriage immigrants." Currently, there are nearly 370,000 mainland workers in Taiwan, and about 148,000 of them have obtained Republic of China identity cards.
Because Li Zhenxiu was not approved to run for mayor of Zhubei City, she earlier filed a petition with the Taipei High Administrative Court, requesting to retain her qualifications.
The court rejected the claim on October 22. The judge pointed out that Li Zhenxiu first established a household registration in Taiwan in December 1999 and did not submit the mainland household registration cancellation certificate until March 2025. Because the registration was removed less than 10 years ago, she was disqualified from running. He said that "based on the existing evidence, there is still evidence in the law." As for whether the Mainland Affairs Council has added restrictions that are not found in the law, and whether the original punishment violates the principle of proportionality, the judge believes that cumbersome investigation procedures are still required.
Li Zhenxiu deeply regretted the ruling and decided to give up her protest. She emphasized that the law should not vary from person to person, and that certain ethnic groups should not be treated as second-class citizens because of their unchosen birth background.
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Zhuang Xiu-ming, a Taiwanese lawyer who once served as a district court judge, told BBC Chinese that Li Zhenxiu's request to retain her qualifications is a lawsuit to deal with the state of emergency. The petitioner must have very clear evidence to convince the judge before it will be approved.
Lin Jiahe, an associate professor at National Chengchi University School of Law, told BBC Chinese that this ruling "temporarily avoids" the debate on the Nationality Law. There is still room for legal litigation on related disputes, including administrative litigation and appeals before the Supreme Administrative Court. In the future, it may also become a constitutional dispute and enter constitutional litigation.
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Forty percent of mainland workers were eliminated, involving multiple counties and cities.
Li Zhenxiu is not the only mainlander who has been disqualified from running.
Liang Wenjie, deputy chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said on October 1 that preliminary verification showed that 4 of the 25 mainland candidates running for election this year had not submitted proof of loss of mainland Chinese household registration; another 7 had submitted proof, but had been deregistered less than 10 years ago.
In other words, as many as 40% of mainland candidates in this election are ineligible.
Taiwan's Central Election Commission responded to BBC Chinese inquiries and confirmed that 11 mainland candidates were ineligible as candidates in the nine-in-one election, including 1 municipal councilor, 1 township mayor, and 9 village chiefs. Another 14 local residents have submitted certificates of loss of origin for 10 years and are eligible to run for election, including 2 county councilors, 2 township citizen representatives, and 10 village chiefs.
Information shows that in the last nine-in-one election, a total of 19 mainland candidates ran for election, but this time only 14 were eligible, a decrease of 5 people.
It is currently known that Taipei City Councilor candidate You Zhibin, Hualien County Fuli Township Xuetian Village chief candidate Lai Wenyou, and Taichung and Taipei each have a mayor candidate. They are all unable to register for the election because they have submitted the deregistration certificate for less than 10 years.
Zhang Han, spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, responded to the controversy over Mainland China's candidacy in July this year. She pointed out that mainland China and Taiwan belong to the same China, and the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. There is no so-called "nationality" issue at all. She criticized the DPP for wantonly suppressing and bullying the Mainland China group and intensifying efforts to restrict their rights to participate in Taiwan.
Liang Wenjie said on October 22 that people who had registered in China did not complete the necessary procedures for changing their status after coming to Taiwan. "It is because they are not qualified (to run for election), and it is not that we disqualify them. There is a difference."
Professor Liu Jiawei from the Department of Public Administration and Policy at National Taipei University told BBC Chinese that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's anti-China and Taiwan-protecting attitude in cross-strait policies has affected the increasingly strict criteria for mainland spouses to participate in elections. "Even if she has become the spouse of a Taiwanese, I still don't believe that they can protect Taiwan's national security."
The Mainland Affairs Council has confirmed that “ten years of expulsion from citizenship” has become the threshold for running for election
The dispute over Mainland China's qualifications for the election stems from the differences in interpretations of Article 21 of the "Regulations on Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area" (referred to as the Cross-Strait Regulations).
According to Article 21 of the "Cross-Strait Ordinance", in the past, people from the mainland area could register as candidates for public office if they had "kept a household registration in Taiwan for ten years."
In April this year, the Mainland Affairs Council issued a letter of interpretation, approving Article 21 of the Cross-Strait Ordinance, stating that before mainland Chinese people apply for settlement and have not submitted proof of loss of origin to the competent authorities, they still have the identity of mainland Chinese people and cannot explain that they have completed the cross-strait identity transition. "During the transition period of identity transition, there is no way to claim that they have complete and stable Taiwanese identity and enjoy relevant rights according to law."
Subsequently, the Election Committee announced in July that if mainland candidates apply to register as candidates in the future, they will have to submit a "certificate of loss of origin" for ten years before they are eligible to participate in the election "have been registered in Taiwan for ten years." At that time, the chairman of the Central Election Committee, You Yinglong, emphasized that this was a purely administrative procedure and "there are no complex political considerations involved."
For some mainland workers who have been registered in Taiwan for many years but have not canceled their Chinese household registration for 10 years, according to the latest interpretation, they are not eligible to participate in the election. For example, Li Zhenxiu still held a mainland Chinese household registration before and after the 2024 legislative election, and did not pay the "loss of origin certificate" until March 2025.
Legal scholar Lin Jiahe pointed out that the key to the controversy over mainland Chinese candidates lies in how the Taiwan government determines the nationality and legal status of people in the mainland.
He said that the earliest legislative idea of the "Cross-Strait People's Relations Regulations" was that on the one hand, it did not recognize the existence of the People's Republic of China and regarded the people of the mainland area as special "nationals." Legislators added special requirements, requiring people from the mainland area to have been registered in Taiwan for 10 years before they could run for public office.
However, in Tsai Ing-wen’s last year in power, the Executive Yuan issued an order in May 2023 to all ministries and committees to stop applying or no longer refer to relevant interpretations such as "the people of the mainland area are also the people of the Republic of China", and pointed out that the people of mainland China do not have the nationality of the Republic of China.
Lin Jiahe pointed out that the Lai Ching-te government has further continued this position, including by interpreting Article 21 of the Cross-Strait Regulations, requiring the parties to submit proof of loss of mainland Chinese household registration before the calculation of the "10 years of registration in Taiwan" required to run for election begins.
Political scientist Liu Jiawei believes that under strict scrutiny, the actual effect is to reduce the willingness of Lu Pei to participate in the election. "It seems that he (Lu Pei) can only live a social life in Taiwan, but there is no way to run for political life. It will actually have an impact on his integration into Taiwanese society."
Why is it so difficult to give up Chinese nationality?
In addition to meeting the conditions of giving up Chinese household registration for 10 years when running for election, Lu Pei must also give up Chinese nationality within one year after being elected.
According to Article 20, Paragraph 4 of Taiwan's Nationality Law, nationals of the Republic of China who also have "foreign nationality" should renounce their foreign nationality before taking office when they intend to take up public office, and should complete the loss of the nationality of that country and obtain certification documents within one year from the date of taking office. If the term is not completed, he shall be dismissed from office.
Taiwan's Ministry of Interior reiterated on April 1, 2026 that after former mainland Chinese people obtain Taiwanese identity, elected public officials must still abide by Article 20 of the Nationality Law, which means that mainland Chinese must give up their Chinese nationality.
However, it is extremely difficult for Lu Pei to actually give up his nationality. Mainland China law stipulates that one must settle abroad before applying to renounce nationality. Under the current cross-strait situation, the Beijing authorities do not regard Taiwan as a "country."
Deng Wanhua, the former head of Xuetian Village, Fuli Township, Hualien County, was dismissed from his post by the Fuli Township Office in August last year because he did not renounce his Chinese nationality. He became the first Lupei village chief in Taiwan to be dismissed due to nationality issues. Deng Wanhua said that he once asked his family in China to help him inquire about giving up his nationality, but he was scolded by a classmate who worked in the Public Security Bureau.
Su Yantu, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, once pointed out to BBC Chinese, "China absolutely does not recognize Taiwan as a country. It is impossible to allow you to give up your nationality just because you have immigrated to Taiwan."
Scholar Lin Jiahe pointed out that even if Lu Pei gives up his Chinese nationality, it will raise many national security concerns. For example, some people argue that his narrow citizenship rights, including the right to vote or to stand for election, should be deprived or restricted for a certain period of time. He does not completely agree with the relevant proposition, "Because this is an important human rights issue, we should not impose stricter restrictions on mainlanders than ordinary foreigners after naturalization."
Lin Jiahe believes that cases should be handled in the context of national security and based on the specific circumstances of each case, rather than determining their rights based on the length of the period in an excessively formalistic manner.
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