• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Last 'Taiwan' stamps to be issued on Aug. 1 before using old name

ROC Central News Agency

2008-05-29 20:28:54

    Taipei, May 29 (CNA) The last set of stamps bearing the word "Taiwan, " instead of the nation's official name "Republic of China," will be issued on Aug. 1, officials responsible for postal affairs said Thursday.

    The issuance of stamps bearing the name "ROC" will be resumed from Aug. 20, with a set of stamps marking the annual Yimin Festival -- a traditional religious observance among the Hakka on every lunar July 20 -- to be the first stamps bearing the word "Republic of China" since Feb. 28, 2007, announced the Department of Posts and Telecommunications under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

    The stamps' names were changed from "ROC" to "Taiwan" during a de-sinicization campaign initiated by the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration in 2006.

    The campaign attempted to get rid of references that connect Taiwan to China, to underscore that Taiwan's distinct national identity was separate from China.

    The campaign targeted designations of state-run enterprises. During the campaign, the name of Chunghua Post Corp. was changed to Taiwan Post. "Chunghua" in Mandarin means "Chinese nation." Names of stamps were changed from "ROC" to "Taiwan" on Feb. 28, 2007.

    Teng Tien-lai, director of the postal department, said the move to recover the old designation on Taiwan's stamps is taken based on the Universal Postal Convention, which stipulates stamps issued by Universal Postal Union members should bear the name of the country or territory in Roman letters.

    Despite not being part of the international organization, Taiwan still wants to follow its regulations, Teng noted.

    As to when the name of Chunghua Post will be changed back, the MOTC said the deadline set by the Legislative Yuan is by October.

    According to the MOTC, the postal company spent NT$12 million (US$394,000) on the name change last year. Changing the company back to its old name, which involves putting up new signs, is estimated to cost another NT$9 million.

    Since the first stamps bearing the word "Taiwan" was issued last Feb. 28, the state-run company has printed 26 sets of stamps of this kind before President Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20.

    The commemorative stamps marking Ma's inauguration, however, were printed bearing the country's official name "Republic of China" in both Mandarin and English, followed by the English word "Taiwan" in parenthesis.

    Seven more sets of Taiwan Post stamps will be issued prior to the planned name resumption on Aug. 20, Teng said.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/cs