Taiwan rolls out new passport - GulfToday

Taiwan rolls out new passport

Taiwan passport

A sample of the new Taiwan passport. Reuters

Gulf Today Report 

Taiwan rolled out a nee passport on Monday to avoid the mix up its citizen’s face with China.

The previous Taiwanese passport carried “Republic of China,” its formal name in English font at the top, then “Taiwan” at the bottom.

According to the government that had created confusion for its citizens internationally.

At the beginning of the pandemic, some Taiwanese were confused with Chinese and subjected to the same COVID-19 related entry bans.

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. 


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According to the Director-General of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Phoebe Yeh, as at mid-morning they had received more than 700 applications for the new passport.

Commenting on the new passport, China said, it does not matter what "petty moves" Taiwan made, it would not change the fact that Taiwan was an inseparable part of China.

China claims democratic Taiwan as its sovereign territory and says only it has the right to speak for the island internationally, a position it has pushed strongly during the pandemic, especially at the World Health Organization (WHO).

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