A redesigned national identification card has been endorsed by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and is to be presented at a meeting of the Executive Yuan today for official approval, a source said yesterday.
The new version is to feature the Republic of China flag and was designed to better protect personal information, the source said, adding that it has an embedded chip to make it more difficult to forge.
Whether to include the flag was a subject of debate between Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) in March during a discussion of the redesign.
Screengrab from the Ministry of the Interior Web site
The cost of replacing existing national ID cards was estimated at NT$400 million (US$12.8 million), the source said, adding that the chip would enable the new card to provide more functionality.
Visually, the new card is to display significantly less personal information, showing only the cardholder’s name, birth date, marital status and card number, the source said.
“Republic of China (Taiwan) Identity Card” is to be prominently displayed at the top of the front face, along with the Chinese characters for “Republic of China national identification card,” they said.
The left side of the front face is to feature the cardholder’s name and birth date in Chinese and English, as well as their ID card number, with their picture on the right side above a reflective outline of Taiwan, the source said.
The back of the card would display marital status, as well as the issuance and expiration dates, they said.
The source said that the card is to provide eight new benefits: easy identification of real and forged cards through a key system that could also be interfaced over the Internet; the ability to link to other information over the Internet, such as health insurance and driver’s license records; the capacity to register for services electronically at a kiosk or online to reduce paper consumption and improve efficiency; better protection of personal information through encrypted electronic storage; quick access to personal records protected by a password; access to smart government services for better interaction; an anti-forgery system that includes hardware and software components; and reduced cost and risk for entrepreneurs.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS