Former Republic of China in-exile President Ma Ying-jeou is in China, the land of his birth according to his November 1980 certification on the Massachusetts birth certificate of his daughter Lesley. However, Ma’s political career was built on a claim he was born in Hong Kong instead of Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province, China.
Ma’s departure to his Chinese birthplace was a noisy affair with members of Taiwan Republic, led by activist Chilly Chen, giving Ma a heated send-off in an airport protest.
Chen and his crew were dragged out of the airport terminal amid a flurry of shouting, struggling, and sign-waving, allowing Ma to go forward with a news conference prior to departure. Chilly Chen is a veteran activist who has often targeted statues of ROC dictator Chiang Kia-shek for his protests.
Upon Ma’s arrival in China, on a supposedly non-political trip to visit the ancestors, he quickly declared, “We are all Chinese.” In Ma’s case, given his 1980 certification of birth, his claim to be Chinese might be true.
In November 1980, while attending Harvard University, Ma Ying-jeou certified on the birth certificate of his daughter Lesley that he was born in China. Ma signed the Massachusetts birth certificate stating: “I certify that the information appearing above is true and correct.”
Ma, who many in Taiwan view with disfavor for his pro-China views, drew immediate criticism from People’s Republic of China hardliners. One commentator, using the pen name Tan Quixote, blasted Ma for his supposed pro-independence advocacy. “Ma Ying-jeou is the tacit founder of Taiwan pro-independence movement. He also clamored to formulate Anti-Secession Law for Taiwan.”
Back in Taiwan, Chilly Chen has called Ma many things but never the founder of the Taiwan independence movement. While the international media is busy reporting on Ma’s visit to China, the doubletalk about Ma’s birthplace, Shenzhen vs. Hong Kong, goes ignored. After seven decades of United States imposed “strategic ambiguity” the truth about Taiwan is often not known or told. Does it matter if Ma Ying-jeou is a PRC national? Apparently not to the news media.
Richardson Reports 
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