Ditching the image of China's map from the Government Information Office's (GIO) emblem, adding the word "Taiwan" to newly issued passports and removing from the walls pictures of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) reflect government pragmatism, scholars and politicians say.
On the other hand, some argue that these changes are indicative of the ruling DPP's pro-independence stance.
According to a rule revised by the Ministry of the Interior on Friday, government offices and public schools in Taiwan will no longer need to hang any pictures of the country's former presidents on their walls .
Meanwhile, the GIO has officially abandoned an emblem it has used for the past decade. The old GIO emblem features an ROC national flag and a map of China.
Additionally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) made a proposal last month to add the word "Taiwan" to newly issued passports.
GIO Director General Su Tzeng-ping (
According to Su, the old emblem featured a map of China that includes Outer Mongolia, even though the area has been an independent sovereign republic since 1921. Using the emblem created too much confusion, Su said.
Cheng Ching-jen (鄭欽仁), who is a professor of history at National Taiwan University, an advisor to the president and an activist in the "Call Me Taiwan" campaign, says the series of moves by the government are very progressive.
"Ideology is not the only issue here. Things such as the ROC passport have messed up our lives," Chang says. "Does the Taiwan [government] represent Taiwan in the international community? Taiwanese have been lied to for decades," he said.
According to Cheng and other activists urging the government to distinguish Taiwanese passports from Chinese passports, many Taiwanese have experienced trouble as a result of confusion over Taiwan's Republic of China pass-ports and China's People's Republic of China's passports.
Many ROC passport holders, mistaken for PRC citizens, have had trouble with international airport and airline employees when traveling.
In order to distinguish ROC passports from their Chinese counterparts, MOFA has decided to add the word "Taiwan" on newly issued passports.
Opposition politicians and supporters, however, oppose MOFA's proposal. Some legislators have even tried to cut MOFA's budget in an attempt to keep the ministry from adding the word "Taiwan" to the new passports.
"Changing our country's English name is tantamount to changing its official name. This requires an amendment of the Constitution," says Loh I-cheng (陸以正), a retired diplomat and KMT stalwart.
PFP legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫偉) says that adding the word "Taiwan" on newly issued passports is not only unnecessary but will also cause disputes over people's sense of national identity.
Many government offices and public schools, however, are discovering problems with the practice of hanging pictures of Taiwan's former presidents on their walls, especially pictures of Chiang Kai-shek (
"Change of the ruling party has become routine under Taiwan's political democracy. There will be many former presidents and there won't be enough walls to hang up pictures of all of them. For these reasons, there is no longer a need to hang the pictures of former presidents," said Vice Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋).
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