The Presidential Office expects the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will begin printing the word "Taiwan" in Roman script on passport covers this summer, a government official said yesterday.
"The decision to add the word `Taiwan' to passport covers was actually made earlier this year," the official said.
"The government was originally prepared to launch it in February," as part of the government's plans to rectify the nation's name.
"However, due to events such as the US-led military action against Iraq and the SARS epidemic, the government decided to postpone the passport measure to avoid unexpected effects," the official said.
The opposition alliance has strongly opposed the measure, condemning it as a move toward independence.
The official, however, reaffirmed that the purpose of the change is to meet public expectations.
Many people have complained of being subjected to unpleasant treatment after being mistaken as PRC nationals when carrying their Republic of China (ROC) passports.
"Now that the Legislative Yuan session is over," the official said, "the Cabinet can pull out all the stops to put the measure into practice in the next two months."
He said that as the Legislative Yuan has passed a pair of non-binding resolutions on passport reforms that contradict one another, "the government has the legal authority to enact the measure."
The first resolution states there should be no change to the passports, while the second one stipulates that "Taiwan" in Roman script should be added to the cover.
"The Executive Yuan will find out a way to realize the passport issue without violating the Legislative Yuan's resolution," the official said without elaborating.
The ministry held a meeting yesterday to discuss how to implement the change to the nation's passports.
Ministry officials said that they are ready to act, but they hope to have more time to persuade the opposition lawmakers to accept the measure.
"The ministry has not finalized a decision on the measure," said ministry spokesman Richard Shih (
"We'll continue communicating with legislative party caucuses on this issue."
The passport debate made headlines again last week after President Chen Shui-bian (
The ministry has dropped its original idea of adding "Issued in Taiwan" to the cover of new passports after both opposition and DPP lawmakers opposed the idea.
DPP lawmakers said the suggestion would belittle the country and didn't go far enough in clarifying the nation's identity.
Opposition legislators said the proposed addition would be a move toward independence.
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