TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Voting is now underway on a New Power Party (NPP) website for a series of new Taiwanese passport cover designs, which either minimize or entirely eliminate any mention of "China."
On July 22, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed a resolution to emphasize "Taiwan" over "China" on both the name of the nation's flagship carrier and its passport. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) resolution requires the Cabinet to work out specific measures to further emphasize both the Mandarin and English words for "Taiwan" (台灣) on the passport cover so as to "safeguard the dignity" of the Taiwanese people while contributing to convenient and safe international travel.
In response, the NPP on July 30 announced that it had created a shortlist of proposed designs for the new passport and uploaded them to a dedicated website for public voting. NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) hoped the online vote would enable the public to discuss the future passport cover design and the image of Taiwan that the documents should present to the international community, reported Liberty Times.
Chen said the finalists for the competition were decided by National Chengchi University Institute of Taiwanese Literature Professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) and five other judges. Online voting will be open to the public on the Taiwanpassport.tw website from Aug. 1 to 30.
An awards ceremony for the winner will be held in September and an exhibition of the designs will run from Sept. 3-7 at the Olympus Plaza Taipei. Chen said the five criteria for the initial selection comprised: design philosophy, aesthetics, innovation, the reflection of Taiwanese society, and imaginativeness.
The competition is divided into two groups: the International Standards Group and the Creative Group. The International Standards Group must comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for passports with country names, national symbols, document descriptions, and passport chip standards.
Many of the entries incorporate elements that are emblematic of Taiwan, such as Taipei 101, plum blossoms, Formosan swallowtails, Yushan, the Formosan black bear, the Formosan sika deer, the Taiwan blue pheasant, the Taiwan blue magpie, bubble tea, the Presidential Office Building, whales, braised pork over rice, and maps of Taiwan proper.
Thus far, the most popular design is "A21_Butterfly of Formosa," which cleverly uses a map of Taiwan to serve as the wing of a butterfly. The second-most popular design so far is "A44_The Diverse Land," which uses a number of colorful dots to represent Taiwan's island and signify the country's diversity and achievements.
The third-place design is "A66_Guardian God," which features a simple dark cover with a map of Taiwan that highlights its mountains, and the "W" in Taiwan is in the shape of a person raising their arms to represent the country's focus on human rights. In fourth place is "A10_520 TAIWAN," which incorporates many of Taiwan's most iconic symbols, including the main island, orchids, Formosan black bear, Formosan sika deer, and Taiwan blue pheasant.
"A21_Butterfly of Formosa" (Taiwanpassport.tw image)
"A44_The Diverse Land" (Taiwanpassport.tw image)
"A66_Guardian God" (Taiwanpassport.tw image)
"A10_520 TAIWAN" (Taiwanpassport.tw image)
