The US Department of Homeland Security has changed its policy and will now allow Taiwanese citizens entering the US to list Taiwan as their country of citizenship rather than China (Taiwan).
“This is about fairness and today is a victory for the entire Taiwanese community,” said the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Representative Howard Berman.
“It is an indignity to force Taiwanese citizens to list anything other than Taiwan on their US entry documents, and together we righted this unfortunate wrong,” he said.
Berman protested to US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano last month after he discovered that Taiwanese were required to write “China (Taiwan)” on their Form I-94 entry document and in the Global Entry Program. He said in a letter that it was long-standing US policy to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan” and not to make any reference to China.
“Many Taiwanese citizens travel across our borders every day — these individuals should not be required to sign their name under an inaccurate statement in an official government document,” Berman told Napolitano.
This week, US Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection Michael Yeager wrote to Berman saying that he had “looked into and corrected” the situation.
“Henceforth, persons presenting Taiwanese passports will have their country of citizenship listed and recorded as Taiwan on their respective Form I-94 and the Global Entry Program application process will refer to Taiwan,” Yeager said.
The matter was first brought to Berman’s attention by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) after their members complained.
“We are very grateful to Congressman Berman’s steadfast efforts over the past 20 years to ensure that the official US policy regarding Taiwan’s name is faithfully applied by all US government agencies,” FAPA president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
A longtime champion of this issue, Berman was behind legislation that passed in 1994 that allowed Taiwanese-Americans to have “Taiwan” rather than “China” recorded as their birthplace on their US passports. And earlier this year, Berman persuaded California to change its online voter registration system to allow Taiwanese-Americans to list Taiwan as their country of birth rather than “Taiwan, Province of China.”
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS