Diane Lee Continues to Blow Smoke in Taiwan

Friday February 06, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Diane Lee and her lawyer continue to blow smoke and have dragged out a letter from Barbara Schrage, the managing director of the Washington office of the American Institute in Taiwan. In the letter of January 16 2009, managing director Schrage repeats what she said in her November 22 letter. "Loss of US citizenship occurs when a citizen voluntarily commits a statutorily define potentially expatriating act with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship." The key words are "potentially expatriating act" and "with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship." How does one separate that "intention" from the intention of one who "intends" to deceive and thus rip off the citizens of Taiwan while still keeping her passport?

Taiwan's Nationality Act solves this by demanding a certificate as proof that officials with dual citizenship have done so; this certificate is to be presented with a year of taking office. For Ms. Lee that would have been in 1995 but now some fourteen years later, Taiwan has seen nothing. How long will Taiwan allow Ms. Lee to blow smoke as she desperately tries to get someone at AIT to fabricate a defense for her?

The US authorities have stated that "no subsequent loss of US citizenship has been documented" for Ms. Lee. Yet one quick way to end a lot of this is to check and see if her passport was renewed in 2001. Will AIT assist in this? It does not seem to be what Ms. Lee is asking for.

Such a check would not cover the period from 1994 to 2001, but it would at least clear Ms. Lee from 2001 to the present and save Ms. Lee half of the money she took. But, if the old passport were renewed, then it would have tell-tale cuts and hole punches in it. This appears to be what Ms. Lee also wants to avoid as she blows smoke with vague letters from AIT. The KMT is doing nothing, but how long will the Taiwanese put up with this.