California has changed its policy and will now allow Taiwanese Americans to list their place of birth as “Taiwan” when they register to vote rather than “Taiwan, Province of China.”
The move was made less than a week after California Democratic Representative Howard Berman wrote a letter of protest.
“Today is a victory for the Taiwanese-American community in California,” Berman said.
“An unfortunate wrong was righted and when Taiwanese Americans register to vote in California. No longer will they have to list ‘Taiwan, Province of China’ as their country of birth,” he said.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen had resisted making a change — despite protests from Taiwanese Americans — until Berman became involved.
In 1994, Berman was responsible for a bill that for the first time allowed Taiwanese Americans to list Taiwan rather than China as their birthplace when applying for a US passport.
“It is incontestable reality that Taiwan is not a province of China,” Formosan Association of Public Affairs (FAPA) president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
“If American citizens travel to Taiwan, the Chinese embassy is unable to issue a visa to Taiwan,” he said.
In other developments, a legislative draft calling on US President Barack Obama to resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan and “aggressively support” Taiwan’s full participation in the UN will be introduced in the US House of Representatives tomorrow.
The new resolution is being jointly co-sponsored by Republican Representative Michael McCaul and Democrat Representative Robert Andrews.
Washington cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when then-US president Jimmy Carter formally recognized China. Carter acted without consulting the US Congress or seeking its approval.
“Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and has been a steadfast ally of the United States and a compassionate member of the international community,” McCaul said.
“Obama should support a ‘one China, one Taiwan’ policy that gives legitimacy to our Taiwanese friends and partners,” he said.
“It is time the US government acknowledged Taiwan as the sovereign and independent state that it is,” Andrews said. “Throughout our history we have supported the right to self determination for sovereign peoples throughout the world. In the case of Taiwan, it is time to stand on that principle once again.”
Taiwan is one of only five countries in the world with which the US does not have diplomatic relations. The others are Bhutan, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.
While the resolution to resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan has no chance of passing at this time, it is considered important as a way to remind the US Congress of Taiwan’s status.
“There is enormous sympathy for the island,” FAPA official Coen Blaauw said. “A great many members of Congress are appalled that democratic Taiwan is linked with such bad actors as Cuba, Iran and North Korea.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
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