MOFA mulls `Taiwan' for office names

In the wake of adding the word "Taiwan" to ROC passports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it is establishing a task force to study the feasibility of changing the name of Taiwan's representative offices overseas.

The ministry said it has long been suggested that the offices -- set up in countries that do not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan -- have their names changed to highlight Taiwan's sovereignty. Currently each overseas representative office uses the name Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.

"The suggestion has been made by quite a lot of people in the past. In response, the ministry plans to call a task force to study and evaluate the possibility of turning the suggestion into action," said the ministry's spokeswoman, Katharine Chang (張小月).

According to Chang, the key issue is that since the representative offices in countries such as the US and Japan carry the name "Taipei," the authority that they represent seems to be only that of a city rather than a sovereign state.

Chang said that such confusion is not a problem with Taiwan's 18 embassies because they use Taiwan's official title, the Republic of China.

During the period of KMT rule, the name "Taiwan" was regarded by the government as a symbol of independence from China, and was excluded as a possible name for Taiwan's representative offices and embassies.

But as times have changed, more people have embraced the idea of using the name "Taiwan." President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last month announced that the word "Taiwan" in Roman script would be added to the covers of Taiwan's passport, which carry the name "ROC."

As soon as Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) took office earlier this month, he reportedly had the idea to establish the task force to find a more suitable name for the representative offices.

"We will seek to find the most appropriate name for the overseas representatives offices," he said.

Chang added that according to the ROC Constitution, the first priority for the overseas offices is to carry the name "ROC."

If using "ROC" is not possible because of to much political pressure from China, the ministry will not rule out using a name that would highlight Taiwan as a independent sovereign state, Chang said, implying that "Taiwan" would be an option.

Chang made the remarks yesterday in response to a report in the local Chinese-language media that the ministry plans to replace "Taipei" with "Taiwan" in the title of the offices.

According to the report, the ministry plans to start with its 14 representative offices in the US, which are to be renamed "Taiwan office" or "Taiwan's representative office," the report said. The report also said that several academics strongly support the move.

Asked to comment on the report, Chang said the renaming suggestion had yet to be studied and evaluated by the task force.

Besides the renaming of existing overseas representative offices, it has also been suggested that any new overseas representative offices also carry the name change.