An Executive Yuan task force is reviewing templates for name and logo changes for the nation’s passport and China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), following calls to remove the word “China” after several countries refused medical donations from Taiwan after mistaking it for China.
A CAL plane delivering medical supplies to Luxembourg on April 9 was mistaken for the Chinese carrier Air China Ltd (中國國際航空).
The Executive Yuan is awaiting the finalized versions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), Cabinet spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) said.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) would review all versions and reach a decision before forwarding it to the Legislative Yuan, a source in the Executive Yuan said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said that calls to change the name of the airline and the design of the passport cover have received popular support, and that the Legislative Yuan would handle the issue in its extraordinary session.
The DPP caucus has separately proposed a bill calling on the legislature to decide on the matter, for the MOTC to look into measures to further highlight CAL’s country of origin, and to propose medium and long-term measures to prevent the company from being mistaken for Air China.
The DPP said that the MOTC’s measures should protect Taiwanese interests and reinforce the international identifiability of China Airlines as a Taiwanese company by, for example, adding “Taiwan” to its official name, or incorporating a map of Taiwan into its logo.
The New Power Party (NPP) caucus has also submitted a bill suggesting that the MOTC in the short term make the word “China” less prominent or remove it from the company’s name, and add the word “Taiwan” or the form of the island of Taiwan on the bodies of aircraft flying on routes that would not require the renegotiation of flight paths.
As for the passport cover — which Taiwanese travelers have said has led them to be misidentified as Chinese — the DPP said the MOTC should look into measures that would help identify the passport holder as “Taiwanese.”
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