Taipei  - Some Taiwan lawmakers have urged the government to amend the law to lure foreign athletes by granting them Taiwan citizenship while allowing them to keep their own nationality, press reports said Monday.

The Central News Agency (CNA), in a report carried by the United Daily News, said that 17 lawmakers have submitted the proposal to the Parliament, so as to lure foreign athletes to win medals for Taiwan.

Parliament will debate the proposal Thursday, CNA said.

Under current law, foreigners must renounce their nationality upon obtaining becoming a Taiwan citizen.

But the 17 lawmakers are asking the government to amend the nationality law and allow foreign athletes to decide for themselves if they want to renounce their nationality when they receive Taiwan citizenship.

Lawmaker Chao Li-yun warned that Taiwan should be careful in recruiting foreign athletes, who have relatively short sporting careers and in certain sports must wait for several years before represented an adopted country in international competition.

"The sporting life for a gymnast ends at age 18, but for a ballgame athlete, it could be 30. So when we amend the law to lure foreign athletes, we must be careful and get returns for our investment," CNA quoted her as saying.

Taiwan used to be good at baseball, taekwondo, archery, weight lifting and table tennis, but its performance in international tournaments has been deteriorating due to a lack of systematic training methods, shortage of training money and not enough incentives for athletes.

Several outstanding Taiwan players are mulling playing for foreign countries, being offered higher pay and other incentives. (dpa)