A lot of people send postcards back to Taiwan when they are traveling abroad, but when it comes to writing the country name in the address column, should they put “R.O.C.” (the Republic of China), Taiwan or Formosa? An Internet user exercised her spirit of experimentation by sending out postcards with the different country names on them and then waited to see which would be the first to arrive.
The three postcards had the same address, except for the country names, which were, respectively, “Republic of TAIWAN,” “Republik of Formosa e Pescadores” and “Republic of China.” All were mailed from Berlin, Germany, on April 17.
As it turns out, the two postcards that had Taiwan and Formosa written on them both arrived in Taiwan on April 25, whereas the one with the “Republic of China” on it took a month, not arriving until May 19. The Internet user said the experiment showed that the Deutsche Post recognizes Taiwan and Formosa and that writing “R.O.C.” only will make foreigners think it means “China,” and the People’s Republic of China is the only China that is internationally recognized.
Photo: Martin Leissl/Bloomberg
照片：彭博攝影記者 Martin Leissl
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
許多人去國外旅遊都會寄明信片回台，但在地址欄填寫國家名稱時，到底是該寫「R.O.C.（中華民國）」、「Taiwan（台灣）」還是「Formosa（福爾摩莎）」？就有網友發揮實驗精神，同時寄出寫著不同收件國名的明信片，然後看哪一封最快到達。
這三張收件地址都相同僅國名不同的明信片，國名分別寫的是「Republic of TAIWAN（台灣）」、 「 Republik of Formosa e Pescadores（福爾摩沙與澎湖）」及「Republic of China（中華民國）」。三封同時於四月十七日從德國柏林寄出。
結果，寫著台灣與福爾摩沙的兩張明信片四月二十五日就同時抵達台灣，反觀寫著中華民國的那張，拖了一個月，到五月十九日才收到。這名網友表示，實驗證明德國郵政是認得台灣與福爾摩沙的，寫R.O.C.只會讓外國人士想到China，而國際上只承認對岸那個P.R.C.。
（自由時報）
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