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US Representative
wants fairness for Taiwanese voters
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in Washington
US Representative Howard Berman has asked the US state of California to stop
forcing Taiwanese-Americans to list their place of birth as ˇ§Taiwan, Province of
China.ˇ¨
A Democrat from Valley Village, California, Berman has written to Californian
Secretary of State Debra Bowen requesting the records be changed to ˇ§Taiwan.ˇ¨
All California residents born in Taiwan registering to vote online must list
their place of birth as Taiwan, Province of China.
ˇ§The Taiwanese-American community in California is proud of their heritage and
birthplace,ˇ¨ Berman said in his letter.
ˇ§It is unfair to force members of this community to list ˇĄTaiwan, Province of
Chinaˇ¦ as their country of birth when they register to vote online, when their
true birthplace is Taiwan. Our federal government uses the term Taiwan and the
state of California should do the same,ˇ¨ Berman said.
A state official said on Monday that there would be no comment until the letter
had been considered and a decision made on what action, if any, to take.
In his letter, Berman said: ˇ§It has been long-standing US policy that the US
government refers to Taiwan as ˇĄTaiwan.ˇ¦ Federal and quasi-federal agencies such
as Amtrak, the US Postal Service and the US State Department all refer simply to
ˇĄTaiwan.ˇ¦ˇ¨
Berman requested that California also use the same terminology as the other
federal agencies and refer to Taiwan without the addition of ˇ§province of
China.ˇ¨
Berman was responsible for passing legislation in 1994 that allowed
Taiwanese-Americans to have ˇ§Taiwanˇ¨ recorded as their birthplace on their US
passports.
Until then, all Taiwanese-Americans had to list ˇ§Chinaˇ¨ as their birthplace.
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