The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday dismissed allegations that the Swiss government has changed details on driver’s licenses issued to Taiwanese nationals from “Taiwan” to “China” since last month, saying there is no such policy.
“After verification with the Representative Office of Taiwan in Bern, Switzerland, we are certain that there is no policy to list Taiwanese citizens’ home nation as ‘China’ on driver’s licenses issued to Taiwanese by the Swiss government,” ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said in a statement yesterday.
Lee said that since a reciprocal driver’s license agreement between Taipei and Bern took effect on Aug. 1, 2007, licenses issued by Switzerland to Taiwanese have always listed their home nation as “TWN” or Taiwan.
The ministry’s remarks were in response to claims made on Facebook earlier this week by a Taiwanese woman based in Switzerland, surnamed Tsai (蔡), who said a staff member at a motor registry office in Zurich informed her of the policy change in late January when she applied for a driver’s license.
“Motor registry staff told me that the office recently received a letter from Beijing [requesting the change] and that from February, all Swiss driver’s licenses issued to Taiwanese nationals would list their home nation as ‘China,’” Tsai wrote on Facebook.
The staff member said Tsai was “lucky” to have applied for her license before the change, Tsai said.
Tsai made the claims after reports that the Swedish Tax Agency on Monday changed the designation for Taiwan from “Taiwan ROC [Republic of China]” to “Taiwan, Province of China” in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization standard 3166.
The designation change prompted a Taiwanese resident of Sweden to launch a petition to urge the Swedish government to remove the “offensive term.”
“Swedish authorities take this ‘administrative measure’ without any regard for the consequences for affected individuals, by directly or indirectly serving the interests of the People’s Republic of China,” said the petition, which had collected more than 14,000 signatures as of press time last night.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS