Updated: September 2, 2020 3:04:48 pm
The change in the passport design, which will take effect in January, is aimed at avoiding confusion between travelers from Taiwan and those from China, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters. (REUTERS)
Taiwan announced Wednesday that it would redesign its passport to highlight its own name. The move comes weeks after Taiwan’s legislature passed a proposal by unanimous vote to remove “ROC”, printed in English, from the passport cover.
However, the ‘ROC’ would still appear in Chinese characters on the passport cover.
According to a Reuters report, the new passport would be in circulation from January 2021.
Why is Taiwan redesigning its passport?
The Reuters report suggested that the nations of Taiwan had faced difficulties during travel during the coronavirus outbreak due to the word ‘ROC’ printed prominently on passports and ‘Taiwan’ printed below.
Reuters reported that Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said: “Since the beginning of the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak this year, our people have continued to hope that we can give more prominence to Taiwan’s visibility, preventing people from mistakenly thinking that They are from China”.
Taiwan is one of the few countries that has managed to successfully control the coronavirus outbreak, and infection numbers have been low compared to many of its neighbors. Despite this, the Taiwanese government said that several countries had imposed similar restrictions on Taiwanese citizens as they did on Chinese citizens.
Express Explained is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@ieexplained) and stay up to date with the latest
Is the coronavirus the only reason for the redesign of the Taiwan passport?
The discrimination that Taiwan says its citizens faced due to the coronavirus is just one of the reasons that may have finally pushed the government to implement a proposal that has been on the table for a long time. Observers believe that Taiwan could also be seizing the opportunity to assert its own sovereignty and move away from the ROC, its official name.
China has historically asserted its sovereignty over Taiwan and has consistently attempted to suppress attempts at independence. During the coronavirus pandemic, China had insisted that only Beijing had the authority to speak on behalf of Taiwan on an international platform, and more significantly at the WHO. There were claims that China’s interference in this way was affecting Taiwan’s ability to manage public health and safety during the pandemic.
Has the Taiwan passport been changed before?
In the past, citizens of Taiwan used stickers that read “Republic of Taiwan” to block the words “Republic of China” on their passports. When the trend began in 2015, China warned that it would deny entry to travelers who had used these stickers on their Taiwanese passports. In 2016, reports emerged that Macau was denying entry to travelers who had used these stickers on their passports, as was Hong Kong.
In November 2015, Singapore had deported three Taiwanese citizens for using the stickers to block “ROC”, alleging that the travel documents had been illegally altered. As the trend for these stickers gained traction, the United States of America also issued a warning that travelers using these stickers would be denied entry into the country.
At that time, Beijing had viewed these stickers as an attempt to assert the independence of Taiwan. Discrimination and difficulties Taiwanese passport holders have faced with regard to their travel documents have again drawn attention to these earlier attempts to distance Taiwan from China and at the same time highlighted the growing frustration of Taiwan. Taiwanese citizens with China.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay up to date with the latest headlines
For the latest news explained, download the Indian Express app.
.
