Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/08
By: Tang Pei-chun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) From Jan. 1, Republic of China (Taiwan) nationals will be

allowed to add alternate Romanized names in their passports based on the names’ pronunciations in their mother tongues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

The change is being made to meet the pluralistic needs of the public, according to Chen Shang-yu (陳尚友), head of the Passport Administration Division under the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

For example, a man surnamed 黃 of Hakka descent will see his Romanized surname written as “Wong” based on Hakka pronunciation but written as “Huang” based on Mandarin pronunciation. In the future, the person will be allowed to use “Wong” as his alternate Romanized name, Chen said.

He said people will not be allowed to make changes at will after adding an alternate name on their passports, and he urged people to be careful in using alternate names.     [FULL  STORY]