The US Department of Homeland Security has changed its policy and will now allow Taiwanese citizens entering the US to list Taiwan as their country of citizenship rather than China (Taiwan).
“This is about fairness and today is a victory for the entire Taiwanese community,” said the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Representative Howard Berman.
“It is an indignity to force Taiwanese citizens to list anything other than Taiwan on their US entry documents, and together we righted this unfortunate wrong,” he said.
Berman protested to US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano last month after he discovered that Taiwanese were required to write “China (Taiwan)” on their Form I-94 entry document and in the Global Entry Program. He said in a letter that it was long-standing US policy to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan” and not to make any reference to China.
“Many Taiwanese citizens travel across our borders every day — these individuals should not be required to sign their name under an inaccurate statement in an official government document,” Berman told Napolitano.
This week, US Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection Michael Yeager wrote to Berman saying that he had “looked into and corrected” the situation.
“Henceforth, persons presenting Taiwanese passports will have their country of citizenship listed and recorded as Taiwan on their respective Form I-94 and the Global Entry Program application process will refer to Taiwan,” Yeager said.
The matter was first brought to Berman’s attention by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) after their members complained.
“We are very grateful to Congressman Berman’s steadfast efforts over the past 20 years to ensure that the official US policy regarding Taiwan’s name is faithfully applied by all US government agencies,” FAPA president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
A longtime champion of this issue, Berman was behind legislation that passed in 1994 that allowed Taiwanese-Americans to have “Taiwan” rather than “China” recorded as their birthplace on their US passports. And earlier this year, Berman persuaded California to change its online voter registration system to allow Taiwanese-Americans to list Taiwan as their country of birth rather than “Taiwan, Province of China.”
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS