A ranking member of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs is fighting to protect the right of Taiwanese to list their birthplace as Taiwan.
Democratic Representative Howard Berman has written to US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking the agency to stop referring to Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” on I-94 immigration forms.
The issue was raised by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) when one of its New York members crossed the border into the US from Canada at Niagara Falls and was “shocked” to receive an I-94 card referring to Taiwan as “China (Taiwan).”
“It has been a long-standing US policy that the US government refers to Taiwan as Taiwan,” Berman said in his letter.
He said the designation was used by the US Department of State, the Pentagon and other federal agencies.
“Many Taiwanese citizens travel across our borders every day,” Berman said. “These individuals should not be required to sign their name under an inaccurate statement in an official government document.”
Berman asked Napolitano for her “prompt efforts to correct this error.”
FAPA thanked Berman for his support.
“We Taiwanese Americans are very grateful to Congressman Berman for carrying the flag on Taiwan’s name rectification,” FAPA president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said. “Taiwan is Taiwan and Taiwan’s sovereignty is not an issue with which one can play politics.”
In April, Berman persuaded California Secretary of State Debra Bowen to correct the voter registration system in her state, which referred to Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China.”
In 1994, Berman was the primary force behind legislation allowing Taiwanese Americans to list “Taiwan” — instead of China — as their place of birth in their US passports.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS