Diane Lee under U.S. State Dept. probe over citizenship

Andrew Hsia, vice minister of foreign affairs, told a Legislative Yuan committee meeting yesterday the State Department is still studying whether Lee has lost her U.S. citizenship.

“We’ve been informed that the probe continues,” Hsia said.

Lee said she acquired American citizenship in 1991.

“But,” she said, “on being sworn in as a Taipei city councilor in 1994, I lost that citizenship.”

The swear-in alone is enough to prove she has given up her American citizenship, Lee pointed out.

Asked if she took an oath at an American mission abroad to give up her U.S. citizenship, Lee said she hasn’t.

On the other hand, Lee admitted she received a letter from Edward A. Betancourt, a State Department official overseeing citizenship, on Thursday to the effect that her citizenship is still under study.

Should she be found to have kept her American citizenship, Lee would have to resign and return all the government pay she has received since 1994.

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