Maria Cordero reveals that she gave up her Canadian citizenship a few years ago

Hong Kong — Veteran Hong Kong singer Maria Cordero, whose father is Portuguese and mother Chinese has revealed that she had renounced her Canadian citizenship after Nicholas Tse had done.

The 67-year-old recently spoke to Radio Free Asia who asked for the star about her thoughts on Tse renouncing his Canadian citizenship and the rumours that the Chinese government would be imposing a “restriction order” on stars with foreign citizenship.

Cordero revealed that she felt that it was the right thing to do, more so if the star wants to work in China, as reported by 8days.sg.

“I think they [artistes] are all going to be doing this, one after another. Unless they decide that they don’t want to make that kind of money any more, and don’t want to live there,” she said.

“If you’re staying here, then of course [you should have] Chinese citizenship. Chinese citizenship comes with insurance, labour protection and welfare. You are enjoying the welfare of whichever country you reside in,” she added.

It was reported earlier that Cordero was considering renouncing her Portuguese citizenship due to the rumoured “restriction order” that will prohibit stars with foreign nationalities from working in China. However, in the following interview that Cordero had with Hong Kong news outlet Ming Pao, more had been clarified. The star shared that she actually held Canadian citizenship like Tse. Nevertheless, the star had already renounced it a few years ago.

Cordero went on to say that if the country instates a law that prohibits dual citizenship, she’d definitely choose to be a “brave Chinese citizen”.

When asked if her decision was influenced by the fact that she wants to work in China, Cordero replied: “I’ve long decided to retire in Zhongshan [a city in Guangdong] ‘cos my uncle, cousins and all my relatives are in Guangzhou and Foshan.

Born on Feb 18, 1954, Maria Cordero, MH (Chinese: 瑪俐亞), nicknamed Fat Mama (Chinese: 肥媽), is a singer, actress, TV Host and DJ from Hong Kong. She grew up in Hong Kong. She also has her own cooking show, Maria’s Kitchen (肥媽私房菜) on Cable TV. Her fans nicknamed her “Fat Mama” (肥媽; Fei4 Maa1)./TISG