Taiwan revises passports for clarity

TAIPEI: Taiwan rolled out a new passport design yesterday, making the island’s daytoday name more prominent to avoid confusion with China amid Beijing’s steppedup efforts to assert sovereignty.

Existing Taiwanese passports have ‘‘Republic of China’’, its formal name, written in large English font at the top, with ‘‘Taiwan’’ printed at the bottom, creating confusion internationally, according to the Government.

The new passport enlarges the word ‘‘Taiwan’’ in English and removes ‘‘Republic of China’’.

Taiwan said during the early days of the Covid19 pandemic, some of its citizens were confused with Chinese nationals and unfairly subject to Covid19related entry bans when the disease was under control in Taiwan, though not in China.

Bureau of Consular Affairs directorgeneral Phoebe Yeh said by midmorning yesterday they had received more than 700 applications for the new passport, compared with a typical daily average of 1000. — Reuters