California has changed its policy and will now allow Taiwanese Americans to list their place of birth as “Taiwan” when they register to vote rather than “Taiwan, Province of China.”
The move was made less than a week after California Democratic Representative Howard Berman wrote a letter of protest.
“Today is a victory for the Taiwanese-American community in California,” Berman said.
“An unfortunate wrong was righted and when Taiwanese Americans register to vote in California. No longer will they have to list ‘Taiwan, Province of China’ as their country of birth,” he said.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen had resisted making a change — despite protests from Taiwanese Americans — until Berman became involved.
In 1994, Berman was responsible for a bill that for the first time allowed Taiwanese Americans to list Taiwan rather than China as their birthplace when applying for a US passport.
“It is incontestable reality that Taiwan is not a province of China,” Formosan Association of Public Affairs (FAPA) president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
“If American citizens travel to Taiwan, the Chinese embassy is unable to issue a visa to Taiwan,” he said.
In other developments, a legislative draft calling on US President Barack Obama to resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan and “aggressively support” Taiwan’s full participation in the UN will be introduced in the US House of Representatives tomorrow.
The new resolution is being jointly co-sponsored by Republican Representative Michael McCaul and Democrat Representative Robert Andrews.
Washington cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when then-US president Jimmy Carter formally recognized China. Carter acted without consulting the US Congress or seeking its approval.
“Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and has been a steadfast ally of the United States and a compassionate member of the international community,” McCaul said.
“Obama should support a ‘one China, one Taiwan’ policy that gives legitimacy to our Taiwanese friends and partners,” he said.
“It is time the US government acknowledged Taiwan as the sovereign and independent state that it is,” Andrews said. “Throughout our history we have supported the right to self determination for sovereign peoples throughout the world. In the case of Taiwan, it is time to stand on that principle once again.”
Taiwan is one of only five countries in the world with which the US does not have diplomatic relations. The others are Bhutan, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.
While the resolution to resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan has no chance of passing at this time, it is considered important as a way to remind the US Congress of Taiwan’s status.
“There is enormous sympathy for the island,” FAPA official Coen Blaauw said. “A great many members of Congress are appalled that democratic Taiwan is linked with such bad actors as Cuba, Iran and North Korea.”
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
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