The Legislative Yuan yesterday resolved to update the nation’s passport to highlight the Chinese and English for “Taiwan,” and to devise “feasible” ways to rename state-run China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) to differentiate it from its Chinese counterpart, Air China.
Motions tendered by Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on the passport cover, and by the DPP and New Power Party caucuses on the name of the airline were voted on yesterday.
The proposals submitted by the DPP caucus won both votes.
Photo: Wu Su-wei, Taipei Times
The first resolution mandates that the English and Chinese for “Taiwan” should be highlighted on the passport to prevent Taiwanese from being confused with Chinese, to uphold their dignity and ensure their safe passage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China.
The second resolution says that the international community has often confused China Airlines with Air China and to avoid that, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications should devise ways to set China Airlines planes apart from those of Air China.
China Airlines in the short term should add Taiwanese motifs to the fuselages of its aircraft so that the nation’s air rights would not have to be renegotiated, it says.
The ministry in the long term should devise feasible ways to change the English-language name of China Airlines, it says.
The motions were drafted after reports of Asians being discriminated against overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic and batches of masks wrapped in banners reading “China Airlines” misleading recipients into thinking that they were donated by China.
The ministry said that it has instructed the China Aviation Development Foundation (中華航空事業發展基金會) — China Airlines’ largest shareholder — to form a consultancy team to discuss the legislature’s resolution.
China Airlines said that it had no comment on the resolution.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement that the foreign ministry would collect feedback on how the nation’s passport should be redesigned.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan and Lin Chia-nan
REACHING OUT: President Tsai expressed condolences to the deceased man’s family and wished a speedy recovery to those who were wounded in the shooting The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) on Monday called on the US to label organizations associated with the suspect in the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church shooting as domestic terrorists, following accusations that he was a member of a group backing unification with ties to the Chinese government. David Wenwei Chou (周文偉), 68, was arrested on Sunday and is being held in lieu of US$1 million bail at the Orange County Intake Release Center over a mass shooting at the California church that left one dead and five wounded. Local police suspect the shooting was politically motivated after they found notes in
NO CONSENSUS YET: Local governments and the CECC have agreed to change the ‘3+4’ self-isolation policy, but are still mulling what to replace it with The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and local governments have agreed to ease restrictions on close contacts of COVID-19 cases, although the details are still being discussed, the center said yesterday. The discussions follow Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday approving a proposal to shorten the “3+4” policy — three days of home isolation followed by four days of self-disease prevention — for close contacts who have received booster doses. “We did not reach a consensus on how to revise the current restrictions, but we all agreed that the administrative burden must be reduced and the intensity of restrictions must be eased,
OPPOSING CHINESE ‘HOSTILITY’: The bill orders the state secretary to create a plan to regain observer status for Taiwan, saying Taipei is a model contributor to world health US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill into law to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), demonstrating Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. Friday was the deadline for Biden to sign the bill (S.812), which directs “the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO), and for other purposes.” The 75th WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday next week to May 28. The bill, introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate
LIVING WITH COVID-19: Close contacts with a booster shot would no longer follow the ‘3+4’ policy, instead practicing ‘0+7,’ or self-disease prevention for seven days Close contacts of COVID-19 cases who have received a booster shot no longer need to isolate at home, but should practice seven days of “self-disease prevention,” effective today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that starting at 12am today, close contacts — people living in the same household — of those confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 are exempt from home isolation if they have received a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Data from other countries show that people who have received a booster shot are
RSS