Taiwanese should be allowed to put “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on their passports, pro-independence activists said yesterday at a protest outside the Bureau of Consular Affairs building.
“People are able to smoothly go through [passport control using passports with stickers] on all major continents – the only officials who make things difficult are the border officials of the Republic of China,” said Chou Wei-li (周維理), the convener of the Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice student group.
Republic of China is Taiwan’s official name and is engraved on the cover of all Taiwanese passports above the national emblem, which is derived from the emblem of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Stickers promoted by the activists cover the “Republic of China” with the “Republic of Taiwan” as separate stickers are used to cover up the national emblem with images of national wildlife.
“The Republic of China passport causes Taiwanese to experience humiliation internationally,” said Free Taiwan Party Chairperson Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), stating that the passport often led bearers to be confused with citizens of the People’s Republic of China, causing customs delays in countries which allow visa-free entry Taiwanese citizens.
Party spokesperson Lin Yu-lun (林于倫) said they were rallying to protest the comments made by Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) at the Legislative Yuan earlier this week, that using stickers to cover the “Republic of China” on passports would be illegal.
“If all you are doing is putting the demands you wish to express on the passport, that is not illegal in and of itself,” Lin said, stating that rules only forbid altering the content of the passports, such as manipulating the content of the smart chips or altering passport numbers.
The minister had stated three years ago that putting stickers that read “Taiwan is my country” on passports was legal in response to a movement at the time, Lin said.
After shouting slogans opposing the minster’s statements at the Legislative Yuan, Tsay attempted to climb into the consular affairs complex, but was stopped by police.
Kung Chung-chen (龔中誠) the Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bureau of Consular Affairs stated that the stickers would be illegal under amendments to the Passport Statute (護照條例) passed by the Legislative Yuan in May which are to go into effect in January.
He said that according to the regulations the ministry would have the authority to cancel any passport that bears the stickers, as well as extending the review process for passport renewal for people carrying passports with the stickers.
He added that people who put stickers on their passports risked customs problems, displaying an e-mail from the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) director of consular affairs, which stated that if stickers were placed over the name “Republic of China,” US border officials would “reserve the right to seize the altered document and refuse the traveler’s entry.”
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods