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Celebrates 30th Anniversary of the Enactment of U.S. Passport “Place of Birth: ‘Taiwan’” Campaign and Calls for End to Outdated “One China Policy”
On October 25, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) issued a statement celebrating the 30th anniversary of enacting the U.S. passport birthplace “Taiwan” campaign, and calling on the U.S. to end its highly confusing and outdated “One China policy” in favor of a more realistic “One China, One Taiwan policy.”
Before 1994, Taiwanese Americans born in Taiwan were forced to list “China” as their place of birth on their U.S. passports, which incorrectly implied that “Taiwan is part of China” and offensively suggested that Taiwanese Americans were also “Chinese.” This misrepresentation fueled a policy campaign by FAPA advocating to correct the oversight and affirm the rightful identity of Taiwanese Americans.
October 25, 2024, marked the 30th anniversary of enacting the 1994 U.S. passport birthplace “Taiwan” amendment. FAPA successfully championed this crucial policy change allowing U.S. citizens born in Taiwan to designate “Taiwan” as their place of birth on their U.S. passports.
In September 1991, FAPA launched a campaign to correct Taiwanese Americans’ birthplace designation on 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 Department of State wrongly cited this policy and replied that it couldn’t allow Taiwanese Americans to change their birthplace designation to “Taiwan” 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, 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.
Nonetheless, the State Department, which certainly was misled again by the confusing “One-China policy,” said in May 1994 that this birthplace “Taiwan” amendment would not affect the place of birth designation on U.S. passports. Taiwanese Americans felt genuinely humiliated by such an unreasonable interpretation.
Later, with the help of Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL), a bill with a technical amendment to explicitly ensure the application of this birthplace amendment to “U.S. passports” was soon passed the Congress. The bill was signed into law on October 25, 1994.
The first known U.S. passport with “Taiwan” as the place of birth was received by Chian-Ho Yang on November 16, 1994. The enactment and continued implementation of this birthplace “Taiwan” amendment reaffirmed the U.S. position that “Taiwan is not part of China” and marked an important step for the U.S. government to gradually move toward implicitly recognizing the independence of Taiwan.
On this 30th anniversary of enacting the amendment, FAPA celebrates this victory and calls on the U.S. to end its confusing “One China policy” in favor of 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.
Read the full FAPA statement HERE.
U.S. Treasury Announces Talks with Taiwan on Double Taxation Deal
The first round of talks between Taiwan and the United States on an agreement to prevent the double taxation of income is expected to take place in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The launch of the “negotiations on a comprehensive agreement to address double taxation issues” resulted from the U.S. Congress’ efforts to push progress in the area through draft legislation, such as the proposed United States-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act and United States-Taiwan Tax Agreement Authorization Act, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a press statement on October 29.
The U.S. administration is committed to “engaging with relevant committees throughout the negotiation process and working with Congress on legislation to approve a final agreement and implement the agreement through the Internal Revenue Code,” according to the statement.
Both the U.S. and Taiwan can benefit from a comprehensive tax agreement because such an agreement can “reduce double taxation barriers for further investment by Taiwan into the United States, and vice versa, particularly for the small and medium-sized enterprises that are crucial to a complete semiconductor ecosystem,” the Treasury Department said.
The text of the agreement is expected to be based on the U.S. Model Income Tax Convention and covers such issues as “reduction of withholding taxes on cross-border payments of dividends, interest and royalties” and “provisions governing permanent establishments and tax treatment of temporary cross-border workers,” according to the statement.
Taiwan has signed a comprehensive agreement on double taxation with 35 countries, including Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Paraguay, according to information published on Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance’s website.
References:
[1] Focus Taiwan
[2] Taipei Times
U.S. Approves US$1.988 Billion Arms Sales to Taiwan
On October 25, the U.S. government announced its decision to approve potential sales of radar turnkey and surface-to-air missile systems to Taiwan, valued at approximately US$1.988 billion.
It was the 17th time that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has approved arms sales to Taiwan.
The latest arms sales package to Taiwan includes the AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 Radar Turnkey Systems and related equipment for an estimated cost of US$828 million, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release.
Also among the items in the arms sales was the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System and related equipment for an estimated cost of US$1.16 billion, the DSCA said in another press release.
According to Taiwan’s military experts, the radar turnkey and missile systems in the latest arms sales will strengthen Taiwan’s capabilities to defend its capital city by detecting threats posed by stealth fighters and drones.
The AN/TPS-77 radar system, which has a range of 470 kilometers, is used for long-range air surveillance and is especially good at detecting small flying objects, according to Shu Hsiao-huang, an associate research fellow at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
Meanwhile, the AN/TPS-78 radar systems have an instrumental range of 444 km and can better identify low-altitude cruise missiles and drones, Su said, adding that the two radar systems can function automatedly.
Chou Yu-ping, a retired Air Force officer, said that the three surface-to-air missile systems will be deployed in Taipei to guard the capital against cruise missiles and fighter jets.