At Frankfurt International Airport, three Taiwanese businessmen returning to Taiwan were refused boarding passes by a Lufthansa staffer at the airline's counter. The clerk told the men that if they wanted to go to Tai-wan, they would need a "Taiwan visa." Because he couldn't locate such a visa in their passports, he said he was unable to allow them onto the plane.
The trio didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They argued that they were Taiwanese trying to return home, and thus didn't need a visa, to which the clerk replied, "You are all holding passports for the Republic of China, not Taiwan!" After numerous explanations, checking and re-checking, Lufthansa finally let the hapless travellers board the flight.
This was not an isolated case. There are numerous examples of inconveniences suffered by ROC passport holders.
There is the case of a student studying in the US, who attended a conference in Kenya. Afterwards, he wanted to fly back to the US, via London. But staff at the Kenya airport counter said that "Chinese" nationals heading to London airport -- whether passing through customs or just changing planes -- must have a British visa.
The student said that as a "Taiwanese" he didn't need a visa. The airport staff insisted he was a holding a "Chinese" passport. After exhaustive negotiations and a call to London, the student was allowed onto the plane.
Yet another US-based student was trying to go to Cairo, via London. Taiwanese visiting Egypt can apply for a 30-day (or longer) visa, while Chinese citizens are only given a 10-day visa. The London airport staff processing the student's ticket saw that it showed a 20-day stay, thought it was suspicious and refused to allow the student to board the plane. Once again it took extensive deliberations before the student was able to continue on his way.
More and more Chinese are traveling abroad, and each country's customs and police officers have adopted different methods of handling Chinese and Taiwanese. Because they are more likely to engage in crimes such as smuggling and illegal immigration, Chinese tend to be checked more stringently. Thus, people from Taiwan who are frequent travellers hope that an explanation can be added to their ROC passports, enabling customs and police officials to understand their unique identity. Perhaps the most acceptable method of doing this would be to add the word "Taiwan" to the ROC passport.
Yao Chia-wen is a senior advisor to the president.
Translated by Scudder Smith
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