The possibility of loosening regulations defining transsexual people is being considered after the Presidential Office’s Human Rights Consultation Committee said a panel of experts would be invited to discuss the feasibility of such a move, the Department of Health said.
During a recent meeting with the committee, a human rights organization proposed that Taiwan follow the US and European countries in loosening regulations so that a person may be legally defined as the gender they identify as.
Bureau of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that previously, those who wished to become transsexual in the eyes of the law had to complete a psychiatric assessment and diagnosis by doctors and a sex-change operation.
In 2008, the regulations were loosened so that as long as a person underwent the surgical removal of their ovaries or penis and testicles, they would be assigned a new gender and begin life as a transsexual, he said. The new proposal would eliminate the need for any such surgery.
The department said it would discuss the proposal.
Some doctors specializing in sex reassignment surgeries have expressed reservations about the proposed measure, saying it could lead to difficulties defining transsexuals.
Plastic surgeon Wang Mao-shan (王茂山) said a female wishing to become a male would have to be injected with androgens after undergoing a sex-change operation. Physically, he would be no different from any other male and there would be no doubts when judging what sex he is. However, should regulations be loosened so that all a transsexual needs is a psychiatric diagnosis, there would be no such clarity over their sex.
Wang said going from being male to female is a much easier surgical process, requiring only one operation and rest for a week.
For a female to change her sex to male, the ovaries, uterus and vagina have to be removed, then they have to undergo phalloplasty and relocation of the urethra to the phallus, Wang said, adding that the entire procedure might take up to a year or more.
Wang said procedures for male-to-female surgeries cost about NT$400,000, and female-to-male surgeries cost about NT$700,000.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS