The Mainland Affairs Council is reportedly contemplating proposing a legal amendment that would require the people of Taiwan to choose between ROC and Chinese passports and prohibiting them from holding passports from both countries. If the council goes through with this plan, it will be constructive step toward building of a new sense of national identity among the people of Taiwan.
Some have pointed out that such an amendment would be nothing but a symbolic gesture. Most Taiwanese in China are unlikely to have acquired PRC passports, given that they often have difficulties just getting identification cards there. Taiwan also lacks any mechanism to identify those people who have managed to obtain a PRC passport if they only use their ROC passport when entering or leaving Taiwan. It is also highly unlikely that Taipei or Beijing will come to any agreement on limited dual nationality at any time in the near future.
However, the need to make such a symbolic gesture cannot be overlooked. This is because the people of Taiwan are facing a serious identity crisis. With opposition parties bent on making direct links a reality as soon as possible, even more people will soon be traveling between the two sides of Taiwan Strait. Many people in Taiwan still have a serious "Great China" complex, thinking and identifying themselves as Chinese. They are incapable of understanding that being ethnically or culturally Chinese is not the equivalent of being a Chinese citizen. Under the circumstances, people here need a clear sense of us-versus-them, just as the ethnic Chinese in Singapore or Malaysia identify themselves as Singaporeans and Malaysians, not Chinese.
In this regard, one good thing can be said about the Justin Lin (
But more must be done to foster a Taiwanese identity, given China's continuing antagonism, if not outright hostility, toward Taiwan.
Some opposition lawmakers were quick to point out that, since Taiwan currently recognizes dual citizenship, it would seem unfair to single out PRC passport holders. But simultaneously holding ROC and PRC passports cannot be compared to holding both ROC and Canadian passports or US or British. Taiwan and China have conflicting and overlapping claims over territorial sovereignty. Under the circumstances, simultaneously holding passports of these two countries would seem to raise many unique legal and moral questions.
The truth of the matter is that Taiwan isn't the only one saying no to dual passports in cross-strait relationship these days. Chinese government officials have repeatedly indicated that they will not tolerate Taiwanese businesspeople who make profits in China and then return to Taiwan as independence supporters. This has prompted several well-known tycoons to make pro-Beijing statements in order to score brownie points with Chinese authorities. It is high time for Taipei to take an equally tough line and tell those who seek to curry favor with Beijing that it is time to choose sides -- permanently.
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