The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it is open to the idea of letting an individual’s same-sex partner submit a passport application on their behalf, provided that household registration offices are willing to issue a document proving their partnership.
Bureau of Consular Affairs Deputy Director-General Winston Chung (鐘文正) said the primary reason the ministry has not been able to accept passport applications filed by an applicant’s same-sex partner is because of the absence of proper documentation that verifies their relationship.
“Same-sex couples are only able to register their partnership in certain cities and counties, and the practice has yet to be legalized under the Civil Code. The lack of documentation proving such partnerships has caused administrative difficulties,” Chung said.
Under Article 12 of the Regulations for Application and Issuance of Passports (護照申請及核發辦法), only certified travel agencies or an the applicant’s relatives or peers at the same organization, school, company or group can apply for a passport on their behalf.
The article stipulates that those who do not belong to any of the categories are required to have a letter of authorization notarized.
“If household registration offices permit same-sex partnership registration and are willing to issue documents proving the relationship, we would then be able to accept such applications,” Chung said.
Otherwise the ministry would have to consult with the Ministry of the Interior and work out another plan, Chung added.
Nine of the nation’s 22 cities and counties allow same-sex couples to register their partnerships — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Hsinchu and Changhua counties.
With some lawmakers calling for a reduction in the passport application fee to NT$1,000 from NT$1,300, Chung said the bureau is already losing NT$61 for every passport issued.
“Based on our calculations in 2013, it costs the ministry NT$1,361 to issue a passport, including both direct and indirect costs,” Chung said, adding that the passport application fee is far lower than those of the US, Japan and Canada, which charge from NT$4,325 to NT$6,700 per passport.
Chung said the direct costs are printing, personnel expenses and equipment maintenance, while the indirect costs include the expenses of the nation’s representative offices overseas, which offer emergency assistance to the nation’s passport holders.
The ministry cut the fee from NT$1,600 to NT$1,300 in 2012 due to lawmakers’ requests, Chung said, adding that another NT$300 reduction would cause the government to lose NT$600 million.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard