For Immediate Release
Washington, D.C. – October 25, 2024
Contact: 202-600-6819
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FAPA CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENACTMENT OF U.S. PASSPORT “PLACE OF BIRTH: ‘TAIWAN’” CAMPAIGN AND CALLS FOR END TO OUTDATED “ONE CHINA POLICY”
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Before 1994, Taiwanese Americans were forced to list “China” as their place of birth on U.S. passports, a misrepresentation that fueled a policy campaign by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) advocating to correct this oversight and affirm the rightful identity of Taiwanese Americans.
October 25, 2024, marks the 30th anniversary of enacting the 1994 U.S. passport birthplace “Taiwan” campaign — a landmark shift for Taiwanese Americans’ identity and representation. FAPA successfully championed a crucial policy change allowing individuals to designate “Taiwan” as their place of birth on U.S. passports.
Three decades ago, FAPA and our members worked with our friends in both chambers of U.S. Congress to propose, introduce, and successfully pass this crucial birthplace policy change. Since these bills became law, Taiwanese Americans born in Taiwan could finally have “Taiwan” rightly designated as their place of birth on their U.S. passports.
Prior to the FAPA policy campaign, naturalized U.S. citizens born in “Taiwan” had to be falsely recorded as born in “China” on their U.S. passports, which incorrectly implied that “Taiwan is part of China” and offensively suggested that Taiwanese Americans were also “Chinese” — an identity that most of them did not recognize and share. Taiwanese Americans were frustrated by the unjust treatment to mislabel their birthplace for decades.
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Part I: “Record of Place of Birth for Taiwanese Americans”
In September 1991, FAPA launched a campaign to correct Taiwanese Americans’ birthplace designation in U.S. passports from “China” to “Taiwan.”
In 1992, FAPA asked members of Congress to write to the Department of State to allow this correction, but to no avail. Although the U.S. “One-China policy” has never recognized that Taiwan is part of China, the State Department wrongly cited this policy and replied that it couldn’t change the birthplace designation from “China” to “Taiwan” for Taiwanese Americans unless the U.S. changed this policy.
The incident showed clearly how highly confusing and misleading the “One-China policy” is and how easily it could lead to harmful misinterpretations, even for the State Department and its officials.
In early 1993, under the leadership of National President John Chen, FAPA shifted its strategy to correct Taiwanese Americans’ birthplace designation through “congressional legislation.” With the help of Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI), the place of birth “Taiwan” amendment was soon included in the “Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995.”
This bill was passed and became law in April 1994. The Act’s Section 132, titled “Record of Place of Birth for Taiwanese-Americans,” requires the Secretary of State to permit U.S. citizens born in Taiwan to have their place of birth recorded as “Taiwan” on their “registration of birth” or “certification of nationality.”
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Part II: Specifying the “Place of Birth: ‘Taiwan’” designation to be applied in U.S. Passports
Despite the passage of the “Record of Place of Birth for Taiwanese-Americans,” the then State Department spokesperson Mike McCurry issued a statement in May 1994, surprisingly saying that the birthplace “Taiwan” amendment for Taiwanese Americans does not affect designation on U.S. passports. Taiwanese Americans felt genuinely humiliated by such unreasonable interpretation by the State Department, which certainly was misled again by its confusing “One-China policy.”
Nevertheless, FAPA was not deterred by this setback and did not give up. In the summer of 1994, FAPA South Florida Chapter President Song Yea Lee was invited by Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) to meet and even jog with U.S. President Bill Clinton at the Miami Beach. Chapter President Lee used this rare opportunity to seek Clinton’s support to correct Taiwanese Americans’ place of birth designation in U.S. passports from “China” to “Taiwan.”
FAPA headquarters and Chapter President Song Yea Lee also immediately worked with Rep. Deutsch to propose a technical amendment to the same aforementioned “Foreign Relations Authorization Act” by inserting “or issuance of a passport” to its Section 132. Such a correction would make it explicitly clear that this birthplace amendment would allow Taiwan-born Taiwanese Americans to designate “Taiwan” as their place of birth on their “U.S. passports.”
This technical amendment proposal was passed in the House on September 19 then in the Senate on October 7. On October 25, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law for Taiwanese Americans to designate their place of birth as Taiwan in U.S. passports, effective immediately.
Thus, completing the policy campaign for Taiwanese Americans to designate Taiwan as their rightful place of birth on U.S. passports, affecting all Taiwanese Americans to this day.
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Part III: Implementation of Law
On the night of November 16, 1994, Chian-Ho Yang, a Taiwanese immigrant to the U.S. widely regarded as Taiwan’s first female journalist, informed the FAPA headquarters that she had earlier that afternoon received her U.S. passport with “Taiwan” listed as her place of birth, and thanked FAPA for the successful policy advocacy campaign.
The moment that FAPA was notified of the first successful implementation of the birthplace amendment marked a long overdue victory and a proud new beginning for all Taiwanese Americans, as immigrants born in Taiwan could finally and rightfully have “Taiwan” instead of “China” recognized as their birthplace on U.S. passports and other official documents.
The 1994 enactment and continued implementation of this birthplace “Taiwan” amendment reaffirmed the U.S. position that “Taiwan is not part of China” and marked a critical step for the U.S. government to gradually move toward implicitly recognizing the independence of Taiwan, over which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never exercised control.
Without knowing the history, people might find it hard to imagine that Taiwanese Americans born in “Taiwan” had been forced to be wrongly recorded as born in “China” on U.S. official documents for decades. We should remember that the things we enjoy and take for granted now may not have been the case in the past.
This change is a testament to the unwavering advocacy of those who came before us, as the freedoms we enjoy today are the result of dedicated efforts to rectify injustices and ensure accurate representation for future generations.
On this 30th anniversary of enacting the U.S. passport birthplace “Taiwan” amendment, we celebrate this milestone victory and retrospect relevant history. We also want to call on the U.S. to end its highly confusing and harmful “One China policy” (as we have seen during the birthplace correction campaign) and instead adopt a more realistic “One China, One Taiwan policy” that recognizes the reality that Taiwan is an independent sovereign country and that Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other.
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台美人護照出生地正名「台灣」30週年 FAPA呼籲美國廢除過時的「一中政策」
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在 1994 年之前，台灣裔美國人被迫在美國護照上將「中國」列為其出生地，此錯誤表述促使「台灣人公共事務會」（Formosan Association for Public Affairs, FAPA）發起一項政策倡議運動，以糾正此荒謬錯誤，並保障台美人所應有的正當合理身分。
2024年10月25日，標誌著台美人護照出生地於1994 年正名「台灣」立法生效30週年。FAPA成功推動了此關鍵的政策改變，這是台裔美國人確立並保障其身分與認同的一個重大里程碑。
30年前，FAPA和本會會員與我們在美國國會參眾兩院的朋友一同合作，推動、提出並成功通過此項重要的台美人出生地政策修正案。自此修正生效成為法律，在台灣出生的台裔美國人終於能將他們美國護照上的出生地正名為「台灣」。
在此政策倡議通過前，於「台灣」出生的美國歸化公民被迫在其美國護照上被虛假地註記成在「中國」出生，這不僅加深了「台灣是中國一部分」的誤解，並且冒犯地暗示台美人亦是「中國人」，而這與絕大多數台美人的族群身分認定不符，甚至為此感到極度反感。此種強制將出生地錯誤列為「中國」的不公正對待，曾使台裔美國人深感不平並沮喪了幾十年。
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第一階段：「台裔美國人的出生地註記」
1991年9月，FAPA發起了一項政策倡議運動，要求將台美人的美國護照出生地註記從「中國」更正為「台灣」。
1992年，FAPA請美國國會議員致函國務院，要求修正此錯誤，但此舉並不成功。儘便美國的「一個中國政策」從未承認台灣是中國的一部分，但國務院卻錯誤援引此「一中政策」並藉此回覆，除非美國改變此項政策，否則無法將台美人的出生地從「中國」改列為「台灣」。
此事件清楚地顯示，「一中政策」是多麼令人困惑及誤導，進而導致極為有害的曲解及誤判，這即便對美國國務院及其官員來說亦是如此。
1993年初，在陳榮儒會長的領導下，FAPA改變策略，尋求透過「國會修法」來為台美人出生地正名。在美國眾議員柏曼（Howard Berman, D-CA）以及參議員裴爾（Claiborne Pell, D-RI）的協助下，台美人出生地改註「台灣」的修正案很快地被納入《1994和1995財政年度外交關係授權法》（Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995）待審。
該法案於1994年4月通過並生效成為法律。該法律第132節（Section）的標題為「台裔美國人的出生地註記」，要求美國國務卿必須允許在台灣出生的美國公民將其「出生登記」或「國籍證明」上的出生地改列為「台灣」。
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第二階段：明文規定「出生地：台灣」的註記適用於美國護照
儘管「台裔美國人的出生地註記」修正案已通過生效，但當時的美國國務院發言人麥柯里（Mike McCurry）卻於1994年5月出乎意料地表示，此項針對台美人的出生地「台灣」修正案，並不適用於美國護照上的出生地註記。國務院此種毫無道理的解釋，讓台美人深深感到被羞辱。毫無疑問，國務院再次被令人困惑的「一中政策」給嚴重誤導了。
儘管遭遇挫折，FAPA並不因此就氣餒而放棄。在1994年夏天，FAPA南佛羅里達州分會會長李嵩義受到美國眾議員德意志（Peter Deutsch, D-FL）的邀請，在邁阿密海灘與美國總統柯林頓（Bill Clinton）會面，甚至一起慢跑。李分會長利用這難得的機會，尋求柯林頓總統支持將台美人護照上的出生地註記從「中國」更正為「台灣」。
FAPA總部與李嵩義分會長也立即與眾議員德意志合作，提議對該前述《外交關係授權法》進行技術性修正，於其第132節增加「或護照簽發」等字。透過此進一步修正，將清楚明文規定，允許在台灣出生的台美人能將其「美國護照」上的出生地變更或註記為「台灣」。
該項技術性修正在9月19日於眾議院通過，隨後在10月7日於參議院通過。1994年10月25日，柯林頓總統簽署包含該技術修正的法案，正式生效成為法律。自此，台裔美國人能藉由法律明文依據，要求將其美國護照上的出生地正確註記為台灣。
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第三階段：修法的施行
1994年11月16日晚上，被普遍認為是台灣第一位女記者的台裔移民楊千鶴女士告知FAPA總部，她於當天下午已收到以「TAIWAN」為其出生地的美國護照，並感謝FAPA成功推動此項政策倡議，讓台美人出生地正名能夠成真。
在FAPA獲悉首例成功更正出生地的那刻，標誌著一個遲來已久的勝利，這也是所有台裔美國人將引以為豪的新開始。自此，在台灣出生的台美人終於可以依法要求美國政府，正確地將其美國護照及其他官方文件上的出生地列為「台灣」，而非「中國」。
1994年台美人護照出生地正名為「台灣」的修法及其持續施行，重申了美國堅持「台灣不是中國一部分」的立場，並象徵著美國政府朝向默示承認台灣獨立的重要一步，與此同時，亦彰顯中華人民共和國從未統治過台灣分秒的事實。
若不了解相關歷史，如今人們可能很難想像，明明是出生於「台灣」的台美人，竟曾被迫在美國官方文件上被刻意誤記為在「中國」出生，而且這一錯就是數十年。我們應該要牢記，我們今日所享受並認為理所當然的事物，在過去可能並非如此。
台美人出生地的成功正名與改變，正是前人堅定不移地的付出與倡議的最佳見證。我們今日所享有的自由，源自於他們致力糾正那些不公不義，並確保子孫後代能保障其身分認同正確表述的努力成果。
在此台美人護照出生地正名「台灣」30周年之際，我們慶祝此里程碑式的勝利，並回顧相關修法背景與歷史。我們也要藉此機會呼籲美國，早日放棄那極易誤導且有害的「一中政策」（正如我們在出生地正名運動中所見），並轉而採納更符合現實的「一中一台政策」，承認台灣是個主權獨立的國家，並正視台灣與中國互不隸屬的事實。
