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ROC passport mistaken
for PRC one: Taiwanese
By Chan Shih-hung / Staff Reporter
A Republic of China (ROC) passport holder surnamed Wang (王) was recently refused
entry on to a flight from the US to Canada by US immigration officials who
mistook his passport for a Chinese one, despite it being clearly marked
“Taiwan.”
The exasperated passenger called on the government to change the name on ROC
passports from the Republic of China to Taiwan.
Wang, from Yunlin County, said he was spending his summer holidays in Canada
with his son, and made a special trip to the US to see Taiwanese baseball star
Wang Chien-ming (王建民) in action.
When they attempted to fly back to Canada, he was assumed to be Chinese and
required to produce the appropriate visa. He showed officials his passport
marked Taiwan, but they could not distinguish between an ROC passport and a
People’s Republic of China (PRC) passport.
Wang said that the problem was related to the so-called “1992 consensus,” which
the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) claim to
be an agreement reached by Taiwan and China in 1992 that there is “one China,
with each side having its own interpretation.”
Wang said he had entered the US with a US visa without -incident, but had no
visa for Canada because ROC passport holders can enter Canada without a visa.
However, PRC passport holders require a visa to enter the country, and he was
refused passage through immigration because officials took him for a PRC
citizen.
He and his son had no choice but to miss their flight, he added.
After trying to explain the situation, immigration officials finally conceded,
but asked him to produce further identification, he said. He was initially
unable to do so because he had left all his documents in Canada, but managed to
prove his identity from the ticket records for his flight with Air Canada, and
he and his son were eventually able to board the last flight to Canada that day,
avoiding having to spend the night in the airport in Washington.
Wang said this kind of misunderstanding could become more common in the future
as increasing numbers of Chinese tourists take overseas trips.
This would make it more difficult for Taiwanese who, despite Taiwan’s visa
exemption agreements with other countries, may be refused entry if overseas
officials fail to distinguish between ROC and PRC passports, he said, expressing
hope that Ma would take a more pragmatic approach to the problem and make it
clear that Taiwan is not China.
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