Taiwan Today

ROC Citizens applying for residency permits in Japan will be allowed to list their home country as “Taiwan” under a set of immigration control and residency registration law revisions passed by Japan’s parliament June 19. Currently, people from Taiwan residing in Japan are listed as coming from “China” on local registries, causing potential confusion by being lumped together with citizens from China. The revisions, which shift authority for managing foreign residents from local municipalities to Japan’s Ministry of Justice, will now be sent to the upper house of Parliament where they are expected to be passed into law quickly. Also included in the revisions is the introduction of an IC chip card to replace the current alien registration card. The new cards will contain the holders’ personal information, including their citizenship. Following passage of the revisions, those applying for residency will be able to write in the nation of citizenship column their “country’s official name” or “a passport-issuing area recognized by the Japanese government,” with people from Taiwan falling into the latter category as Taiwan does not maintain formal diplomatic ties with Japan. Japan also does not formally recognize the Palestinian National Authority, but its citizens have been able to list their country’s official name when applying for Japanese residency since 2007. Only citizens of Taiwan have been identified in Japanese residency registries as coming from “China” and not their actual home country. Taiwanese in Japan have frequently voiced their protest over this state of affairs, and the government of Taiwan has in the past invited Japan on many occasions to address the issue. Former President Lee Teng-hui made such an appeal to amend relevant laws during a visit to Japan in 2003. An official of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan said the Japanese House of Representatives’ passage of the revisions represents a major step forward in the Taiwan name rectification campaign promoted by the association. He expressed the hope that the amendments will be passed by the upper house of Parliament and enacted into law without any problems.(SB)