The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) said on Monday that the US State Department has said passport applicants can write “Taiwan” as their place of birth on their application forms.
Since 2006, US immigration officials in several states had requested that some FAPA members change their birthplace on official documents from “Taiwan” to “the People’s Republic of China” (PRC).
The Washington-based FAPA raised the issue with the State Department, which said “Public Law 103-415 provided that the secretary of state may write ‘Taiwan’ as place of birth in a passport when requested to do so by applicants born there,” FAPA said.
Taiwanese had previously been forced to write “China” instead of “Taiwan” on their passport applications, the group said. It won congressional support and assistance in amending the law and since 1994, Taiwanese have been able to write “Taiwan” as birthplace on their US passports, birth certificates and other official documents.
FAPA said a member in Oregon had been told by an immigration official during a citizenship interview that he had to change his birthplace from Taiwan to the PRC on his naturalization certificate.
FAPA also found that Department of Homeland Security officials had changed “Taiwan” to “China” on some documents.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
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