The government has not asked officials at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, to invalidate passports carried by Taiwanese with “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on the cover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
The ministry made the clarification after Lin Kwei-yu (林奎佑) — a manga artist and political pundit better known by his pen name, Yufu (魚夫) — posted an article on Facebook suggesting that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka had requested that airport officials invalidate passports with such stickers.
“This is a rumor that is clearly not true,” an official said.
Lin called for the public to “post about the matter aggressively” so that Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) and Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) are made aware of the matter.
The ministry denied making any request that would cause difficulties for Taiwanese entering Japan.
However, the ministry said that the content and design of the nation’s passports has been officially submitted to governments and airlines around the world, adding that altering them would likely be considered an act of vandalism that could result in the passports being invalidated by foreign customs officials.
The ministry called on the public to stop altering passports so that Taiwanese can continue to enjoy the freedom to travel around the world unhindered.
The “Republic of Taiwan” stickers are used by supporters of the Taiwanese independence movement who do not recognize the Republic of China — the government’s official name — as a nation and instead support the “Republic of Taiwan.”
In April last year, a Taiwanese woman claimed that her passport was temporarily confiscated by the Taipei Representative Office in the UK because she had covered the national emblem on her passport with a sticker.
Such stickers gained fame after the ministry proposed an addendum to the Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act (護照條例施行細則) in November 2015, which took effect in January last year, banning any modifications to the nation’s passport design.
However, due to growing criticism that the addendum was designed to crack down on the pro-independence sticker movement, the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in April last year approved a proposal to eliminate the controversial addendum.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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