Taiwan will change passports to avoid confusion with China

Fed up with being confused for China amid the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing s stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty_ Taiwan said on Wednesday it would redesign its passport to give greater prominence to the island s name. Taiwan has complained during the outbreak that its nationals have encountered problems entering other countries_ as Taiwanese passports have the words  Republic of China _ its formal name_ written in large English font at the top_ with  Taiwan printed at the bottom. The new passport_ to roll out in January_ enlarges the word  Taiwan in English and removes the large English words  Republic of China _ though that name in Chinese and in small English font around the national emblem will remain. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said new passports were needed to prevent their nationals being mistaken for Chinese citizens_ especially with the stepped up entry checks many countries have begun since the pandemic began.  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_ Wu told reporters. In Beijing_ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it did not matter what  petty moves Taiwan made_ it could 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. Taipei says this has confused countries and led them to impose the same restrictions on Taiwanese travellers as on Chinese_ and that Taiwan has never been run by the People s Republic of China. -source: reuters