Taiwan on Monday released a new passport that puts a diplomatic spin on the concept of social distancing amid the pandemic.
The self-governing island’s official name, Republic of China, has been downsized, although it remains on the cover in Chinese characters. The words "Taiwan Passport” appear in large bold type. The government said early in the pandemic that it was all an attempt to lessen confusion surrounding its citizens traveling during the coronavirus outbreak, and to dissociate them from people coming from mainland China as many countries rushed to bar entry to Chinese travelers.
"Today is the day,” Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, said in an Instagram post Monday. "The big TAIWAN on the cover will accompany the people of the country to travel around the world, and it will also make the international community more unable to ignore the existence of Taiwan,” she wrote. (She also boasted that in the past year, Taiwan had successfully slowed the spread of the virus while maintaining economic growth.)