Taiwan unveils new passport asserting independent identity, removes 'Republic of China'

On September 2, the government of Taiwan launched its new passport design with independent identity, deemed as official from January 2021. The new passport highlights “Taiwan” in Latin characters in bold and has scaled down the ‘Republic of China’. According to reports, the passport design long created confusion that it belongs to the People’s Republic of China due to large text emblazoned near the word ‘passport’. Taiwan now has its country’s name written and the ‘Republic of China’ in English removed. 

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in a press conference that the new passport aimed to distinct Taiwan from China, and the red line separated the island from the Chinese government as lawmakers asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to do so in July. MOFA notified the International Air Transport Association, foreign governments, airports, airlines, and immigration authorities about the new Taiwanese passport and sent the new cover samples to them, Wu added. He said, the new design kept most elements of the earlier passport, but now has the cover that highlights the country appropriately, ‘Taiwan’. Authorities also moved the word closer to “passport”  that now makes it more clear that it was a Taiwanese passport and not China’s. Wu further said in the state press address that the redesigning of the Taiwanese passport was in response to a resolution passed in the parliament. Therefore, it was the unanimous decision to write “Taiwan” over “China” in the passport.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said during the launch of the new design, “the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China will never change regardless of what ‘tricks’ are played by the governing pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party," an AP report confirmed. Further, Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) party responded to the new design, saying, that President Tsai Ing-wen’s ideological and political considerations pounced on the opportunity to advertise Taiwan to the world. 

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[Taiwan foreign ministry released images of the new document that features “Taiwan” in large capital letters on its cover. Credit: AP]

Highlights “narrowness” of DPP

In a press release titled Why is it necessary to replace the cover of the new passport?, the pro-Chinese party said that DPP made the  "Republic of China" to almost disappear. This highlights the “narrowness” of the DPP’s governance structure by not taking special national conditions into effect. Citing that the previous passport was appropriate, the KMT said, “it should not be necessary to change the official name of the Republic of China in English. “If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is worried that this name may be confused with the name of the other side of the strait, it should make every effort to explain the difference between the two to other countries,” it added. However, authorities at the press conference said that the nations worldwide have imposed travel bans in a bid to combat the outbreak and new passport would stop the confusion between Taiwanese nationals and citizens of China.

Chen Yu-Jen, a Kuomintang legislator from the island of Kinmen from the Chinese city of Xiamen was quoted saying by Reuters that the Republic of China is a country, Taiwan is not. Lashing out at Taiwan’s new passport, China condemned Taiwan’s decision, saying, “Taiwan” was added to the cover of the Taiwanese passport more than a decade ago. China does not recognize Taiwanese passports and requires citizens of the island traveling to the mainland to use a Chinese-issued document, according to state-run media reports.

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(With AP Inputs)