Explained: Here is why Taiwan is changing its passport

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 Taiwan nations had faced difficulties during travel during the coronavirus outbreak due to the word ‘Republic of China’ prominently printed on the passports and ‘Taiwan’ printed below.

Reuters reported Taiwan’s Foriegn Minister Joseph Wu saying: “Since the beginning of the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak this year, our people have kept hoping that we can give more prominence to Taiwan’s visibility, avoiding people mistakenly thinking they are from China.”

Taiwan is among the few countries that has successfully managed to control the coronavirus outbreak and infection numbers have been low in comparison to many of its neighbours. Despite this, Taiwan’s government said that several countries had imposed similar restrictions on Taiwanese nationals as they had on China’s citizens.

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Is coronavirus the only reason for Taiwan’s passport redesign?

The discrimination that Taiwan says its citizens faced due to coronavirus is just one reason that may have finally pushed the government into implementing a proposal that has long been on the discussion table. Observers believe Taiwan may also be using the opportunity to assert its own sovereignty and move away from the Republic of China, its official name.

China has historically asserted sovereignty over Taiwan and has consistently tried to quash attempts signifying independence. During the coronavirus pandemic, China had insisted that only Beijing had any authority to speak for Taiwan on an international platform, most significantly at the WHO. There were assertions that China’s interference in this way was impacting Taiwan’s ability to manage public health and safety during the pandemic.

Has Taiwan’s passport been changed before?

In the past, Taiwan’s citizens have used stickers saying ‘Republic of Taiwan’ to block the words ‘Republic of China’ on their passports. When the trend started in 2015, China had warned that it would deny entry to travellers who had used these stickers on their Taiwanese passports. In 2016, reports emerged of Macau denying entry to travellers who had used these stickers on their passports, as did Hong Kong.

In November 2015, Singapore had deported three Taiwanese nationals for using the stickers to block ‘Republic of China’ on grounds that the travel documents had been illegally altered. When the trend of these stickers had gained traction, the United States of America had also issued a warning that travellers using these stickers would be denied entry into the country.

At that time, Beijing had viewed these stickers as an attempt to assert Taiwanese independence. The discrimination and difficulties that Taiwanese passport holders have faced regarding their travel documents have brought back attention to these previous attempts to distance Taiwan from China and have simultaneously highlighted the growing frustration of Taiwanese nationals with China.