The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it is planning to issue a new version of the Republic of China passport in order to make forgery more difficult.
Ministry spokeswoman Chang Siao-yue (
"No political consideration will be involved in the issue of new passports," she stressed.
Chang said the ministry has received complaints from ROC nationals that having "Republic of China" printed on their passports has often misled foreign immigration officers into mistaking them for Chinese citizens, thus causing them unnecessary trouble and wasted time.
Against this backdrop, Chang said, the ministry is reviewing whether the presentation of the passport should be modified somewhat.
"Such modification will have nothing to do with any change in our national title," Chang said.
Meanwhile, Chang said, the ministry is collating opinions and suggestions of embassies and representative offices abroad concerning what should appear on the cover of the new passport.
"The move is mainly aimed at making our new passport better suited to practical demands," Chang said, adding that politics has no role in the plan to issue a new version of the nation's passport.
Earlier press reports had said some overseas embassies and representative offices have thrown support behind a proposal to add "Taiwan" to the cover of the new passport to help foreign immigration officers avoid mistaking ROC citizens for Chinese nationals.
The reports prompted some pro-unification activists to express doubts about the motivation of the ministry's plan to issue a new version of the passport, and Chang's remarks were part of the government's efforts to dispel such doubts.
RSS