Japan allows ‘Taiwan’ in nationality field on national qualification certificates, following family registers

[Financial News] The Japanese government has allowed “Taiwan” to be listed in the nationality field on 322 national qualifications, including those for doctors, veterinarians and childcare workers. Until now, people from Taiwan had been listed as “China” in that field.
According to Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 18th, the Japanese government recently changed the “nationality” field on national qualifications to “nationality, etc., including countries and regions,” allowing people from Taiwan to enter “Taiwan.” At least 70,000 Taiwanese people lived in Japan as of the end of last year, and the measure was described as taking into account their identity in relation to their region of origin.
In the 1960s, when Japan had no diplomatic relations with China and did not recognize it as a country, the Japanese government established an administrative policy of listing the nationality of Chinese and Taiwanese people alike as “China,” rather than “the People’s Republic of China” or “the Republic of China.” It maintained this policy after establishing diplomatic relations with China and severing ties with Taiwan in 1972. As a result, Taiwanese people had to list their nationality as “China” in their family registers, regardless of their wishes.
Against this backdrop, the Japanese government recently revised the ministerial ordinance (enforcement regulations) concerning family registers, allowing Taiwanese people to list their nationality as “Taiwan” in their family registers starting in May last year. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Zhaokun at the time protested the Japanese government’s policy of allowing the Taiwan designation, claiming, “Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (China and Taiwan) are all Chinese.”
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