Taiwanese Nationals Previously Registered as Chinese Now Allowed to Change Status
Japan Revises Family Register Ordinance to Recognize "Taiwan" Instead of "China"
China Criticizes Move, Urges Adherence to "One China" Principle
The Japanese government has revised local ministerial ordinances related to family registers, allowing Taiwanese nationality to be recorded as Taiwan instead of China starting from May. The Chinese government criticized this move by Japan, stating that both China and Taiwan are Chinese.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 17th, Japan's Ministry of Justice decided to change the family register system by revising the ministerial ordinance, renaming the foreigner 'nationality' field to 'nationality/region.' This change will allow Taiwanese people to list their nationality as 'Taiwan.' Furthermore, after the ordinance revision, Taiwanese individuals who previously had their nationality recorded as China in the family register will be permitted to change their nationality/region to Taiwan.
Nikkei explained that this is "to consider the identity of people from different regions," adding, "According to statistics from Taiwanese authorities, about 800 to 1,000 people marry Japanese nationals annually." It also mentioned, "There have been voices among people from Taiwan requesting recognition of 'Taiwan' in family registers to maintain their identity," and "There was also an opinion that the current system does not align with the fact that Taiwan is widely recognized as a 'region' in the international community."
The Ministry of Justice of Japan has maintained the practice of recording Taiwanese nationality as 'China' based on a 1964 notification issued before Japan established diplomatic relations with China in 1972 and severed ties with Taiwan. At that time, since China was not recognized as a state, both Chinese and Taiwanese nationals were recorded as Chinese.
China opposed Japan's move. Guo Zhaokun, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing that "Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (China and Taiwan) are all Chinese," urging Japan to "adhere to the 'One China' principle and the spirit of the four Sino-Japanese political documents that specify 'One China,' refrain from playing tricks behind the scenes on the Taiwan issue, and avoid sending contradictory and wrong signals."
Meanwhile, this measure is attracting attention as the U.S. government removed the phrase "does not support Taiwan independence" from its website, and the foreign ministers of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan expressed support for "Taiwan's meaningful participation in appropriate international organizations" in a joint statement issued on the 15th (local time) during the Munich Security Conference (MSC).
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