Swedish-Taiwanese

Friendship Organization
18-03-05 1

To Tax Office/Swedish Foreign Ministry

It has been brought to our attention that Skatteverket, in consultation with the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, intends to change the name “Republic of China (Taiwan)” to “Taiwan, province
in China” in your registers. Hereby we wish to convene our protest against this change.

The name ”Taiwan, province in China” is directly misleading: Taiwanese passports carry the name
“Republic of China (Taiwan)”. The usual, everyday name of the country is simply Taiwan. Both
these terms are justified, in the first case being the official name of the nation, in the second case
the name commonly used. Changing to “Taiwan, province in China” will give the false impression
that Taiwan is actually ruled by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which is not true. To change
the name could have serious consequences for individuals.

For instance, travelers from Taiwan could mistakenly be classified as citizens of the PRC. Please
note that Taiwanese citizens can enter Sweden – and the entire EU – without a visa, which
Chinese citizens cannot. This could cause problems entering Sweden.

Swedish citizens applying for visa for longer periods of stay than 90 days do so at Taipei Mission in
Sweden, not at the Chinese embassy. A change of names could mean that such applications are
being sent to the wrong place, namely to the Chinese embassy. No matter whether the result will
be that the application is simply ignored, or that the Chinese embassy grants a visa that is not valid
in Taiwan, the effect is just as bad for the person in question.

When Sweden signed the double taxation agreement with Taiwan, it was done (indirectly, through
the Trade Council) with Taipei Mission in Sweden, not with Chinese authorities, who would not be
able to enter such an agreement. A new name could mean that Swedish companies by mistake
would try to contact the Chinese embassy in Stockholm or the Swedish embassy in Beijing, instead
of Taipei Mission in Sweden or its counterpart, Business Sweden in Taiwan, over issues concerning
trade among the two countries.

Last but not least, this new term will probably also be used to state nationality of Taiwanese
citizens living in Sweden. Will they from now on be forced to state their nationality as “Taiwan,
province in China”? Without any doubt, very few of them will want to do this, since it is an
offensive violation of their national identity, and even if they did, it would cause confusion since it
is not the nationality stated in their passports.

It is true that the situation today is such that Sweden does not have diplomatic relations with
Taiwan, but that does not imply that it is necessary, within Sweden, to make life harder for
people-to-people contacts between Sweden and Taiwan. Taiwan is a de facto state, that is a
democracy and that has good unofficial relations with Sweden.

To voluntarily change the name to ”Taiwan, province in China” is a purely bureaucratic step to
adjust to an entirely artificial standard that doesn’t reflect the real geographic facts, but is based
on politicized terminology from the United Nations, where China is a member while Taiwan is not
allowed to be. This reflects the ambition of the PRC to annex Taiwan, which we at least hope that
Swedish authorities do not support.


Swedish-Taiwanese Friendship Organization
18-03-05 2

Furthermore, it is part of the international bullying of Taiwan and Taiwanese nationals that China,
amid the silence of the surrounding world, conducts with ever increasing intensity, as the
economic and military power of China grows. An example of this is the fact that, Taiwanese
nationals are (as the only group) consistently being denied entrance to the UN office in Geneva,
on the pretext that they lack UN approved passports.

To change the name of the country would therefore be most unfortunate, not only because it
signals a lack of respect for a progressive democracy that in many ways is similar to Sweden, but
also because it could be interpreted as proof that Swedish authorities willingly yield to pressure
from the PRC without considering the consequences. Therefore, we appeal to you to take into
consideration the good people-to-people relations between our two sister democracies, and
reconsider this decision.




Swedish-Taiwanese Friendship Organization

Anders Lord/Chairman
ordf@swetai.org