Taiwan introduces new passport designed to end confusion with mainland China

Name: Taiwan rolls out new passport designed to end confusion with mainland China
Uploaded: 2021-01-11T10:06:03.000Z
Duration: 1 min 9 s
Description: Taiwan rolls out new passport designed to end confusion with mainland China

New designed enlarges word ‘Taiwan’ and reduces the prominence of the ‘Republic of China’ in English

Taipei says citizens will not be mistakenly identified as mainlanders, but Beijing says it is a ‘petty move’ and island remains part of China

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Taiwan rolls out new passport designed to end confusion with mainland China

Reuters

Published: 6:06pm, 11 Jan 2021Updated: 11:18am, 12 Jan 2021

Taiwan rolled out a newly redesigned passport on Monday that gives greater prominence to the island’s day-to-day name, aiming to avoid confusion with China amid the Covid-19 pandemic and Beijing’s stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty.

Existing Taiwanese passports have “Republic of China”, its formal name, written in large English font at the top, with “Taiwan” printed at the bottom, creating confusion internationally according to the government.

During the early days of the pandemic Taiwan says some of its citizens were confused with mainlanders and on occasion unfairly subjected to the same Covid-19-related entry bans when the disease was well under control in Taiwan though not in the mainland.

The new passport enlarges the word “Taiwan” in English and removes “Republic of China”, though that name in Chinese and in small English font around the national emblem remains.

The old passport gave the official name more prominence. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bureau of Consular Affairs director general Phoebe Yeh said that as of midmorning Monday, it had received more than 700 applications for the new passport, compared with a daily average of 1,000.