Taipei: An Australian woman claiming to hold a Republic of China (ROC) passport and birth certificate, who alleges she was sold as an infant, has had her nationality application rejected by Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior (MOI), according to a Taiwanese lawmaker.
According to Focus Taiwan, Kuomintang Legislator Wang Hung-wei revealed at a news conference in Taipei that 46-year-old Vanessa Miles was informed by Taiwanese officials in Australia that she could obtain nationality even if her biological parents were unknown. However, the MOI denied her application, citing insufficient evidence of her birth in Taiwan, despite Miles presenting a Taiwanese birth certificate and an ROC passport that included an exit stamp from when she was taken to Australia at three months old.
Miles explained that her household registration was annulled in 1983, three years after her adoption, following her biological grandfather's claim that her registered birth had not occurred. She stated that her biological grandfather also canceled her adoption by her Australian family, which the MOI reportedly accepted without thorough verification.
Miles expressed her frustration, stating, "I am a victim, sold to another country as a small baby without any say in the matter. Now the government has effectively erased my existence."
Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang assured Miles on Friday that assistance would be provided "with empathy." However, he emphasized that the government is still in the process of verifying Miles' birth certificate and nationality documents to ensure they are not fabricated. Liu noted that if the documents cannot be authenticated, it would "not be difficult" for Miles to restore her nationality if a DNA test confirms her relation to her unknown biological parents.