Press Release

Date: 1/13/2003

From: Ten Thousand-Letter Name Rectification Campaign (U.S.A.)
　　　Coalition to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan (Taiwan)
　　　World United Formosans for Independence- U. S. Headquarters (WUFI-U.S.A.)

Contact: U.S.A. Professor Jeff Tsay (817) 275-6217 jefftsay@uta.edu
　　　 Taiwan Mr. Kang-Hou Wang 22357-6656 wufidata@wufi.org.tw

On Wednesday, January 15 at 9:00 a.m., a 10-person delegation representing 9 Taiwanese American Organizations will present a copy of 10,000 signed letters to President Chen Shui-bian at the Presidential Building to urge the Taiwanese government to change the name of Taipei Economic and Culture Representative Office (TECRO) to Taiwan Representative Office. The presentation culminates a letter campaign in the United States that is by far the largest ever launched by Taiwanese Americans. Additional copies will be presented to Mr. Jin-Pyng Wang, Chairman of Legislative Yuan on January 16 at 10:00 am; and to Mr. Eugene Y. H. Chien, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on January 16 at 3:00 pm. A press conference is scheduled at 3:00 p.m. on January 15 at Union Room, Ambassador Hotel (No 63, Sec. 2, Chungshan N. Rd., Taipei).

TECRO is Taiwan’s embassy-equivalent office in the United States and is responsible for maintaining and developing bilateral relations between Taiwan and the United States. Taiwanese-Americans believe that the current name of this office is inappropriate and should be changed. Consequently, WUFI-U.S.A. and the Taiwanese Association of America (TAA) jointly initiated the “name rectification” letter campaign to collect 10,000 letters to urge the name change. The letter points out that using a city’s name (Taipei) as the title of a national level office is not only misleading but also inappropriate because the name belittles the office’s position as well as Taiwan’s status. In addition, the use of “Taiwan” in the official U.S. document, the Taiwan Relations Act, justifies the same designation for the representative office. Further, President George W. Bush has always referred to Taiwan as Taiwan and its people as Taiwanese. Therefore, rectifying the representative office’s name should not encounter any resistance but rather be welcomed by the U.S.

The letter campaign was kicked off in late May of 2002. Since then, nearly 30 Taiwanese-American organizations have endorsed a statement of similar contents and enthusiastically joined the letter collection effort. A presentation of these letters was made to Mr. Chien-Jen Chen, head of TECRO, in Washington D.C., on November 15, 2002 by a delegation of more than 30 people representing more than 10 Taiwanese organizations. Presentations of copies of these letters to Representative Chen’s superiors and Chairman of the Legislative Yuan culminate this campaign. At press time, heads and/or representatives from 9 Taiwanese-American organizations listed below have indicated that they will be present at the press conference and at the presentation ceremonies (Appendix A). According to Professor Bob Yang, Chairman of WUFI-U.S.A. and Dr. Timmy Chiu, former President of TAA, this 10,000-letter campaign represents a link in the chain of activities of the “name rectification” movement that aims to correct many inappropriate names used for Taiwanese government offices. The movement was launched in Taiwan earlier in 2002.

　

Last Name	First Name	Title	Organization	Position
Chen	David L.F.	Mr.	WUFI U.S.A.	Coordinator, L.A.Chapter
Chen	James T.R.	Mr.	North America Taiwanese Professors' Association(NATPA)	President, 2001-2002
Chen	James T.R.	Mrs.	NATPA	President, 2001-2002
Chiu	Timmy	Dr.	Taiwan Association of America	President
Hsieh	Jolan	Dr.	Taiwanese Collegian	Spokesperson
Lee	Henry F.L.	Dr.	Formosan Association for Human Rights	President
Lin	Y.T	Dr.	World Taiwanese Congress	Secretary General
Tsay	Nora	Ms.	North American Taiwanese Women's Association	Vice-president
Wu	Ming-Chi	Dr.	Formosan Association for Public Affairs	President
Yang	Bob In-yu	Dr.	WUFI U.S.A.	Chairman

Mr. Chien-jen Chen
Chief Representative
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
4201 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20016-2137

Dear Mr. Chen:

I am writing to urge you to change the name of your office to the “Taiwan Representative Office”. I list below the compelling arguments why this change should take place.

First, Taiwan is a full-fledged country. The highest office representing Taiwan’s interests in the United States should certainly have the word “Taiwan” in its name. The current name, the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” (TECRO) is completely unsatisfactory and most demeaning. It is unsatisfactory because the average American would not associate TECRO with our country Taiwan. TECRO is demeaning because we are belittling ourselves by using the word “Taipei”. It is plain wrong to use a city’s name to represent a country.

Second, the Taiwan Relations Act, the main document governing the relationship between the United States and Taiwan, accords Taiwan the status of a country. The Act states, “Whenever the laws of the United States refer or relate to foreign countries, nations, states, governments, or similar entities, such terms shall include and such laws shall apply with such respect to Taiwan.” We are therefore justified to use our country’s name “Taiwan” in the title of our representative office. Nothing in the Taiwan Relations Act prohibits the use of the word “Taiwan”.

Third, President George W. Bush has repeatedly called our country and people “Taiwan” and “Taiwanese”, respectively. Many U.S. Senators and House Representatives see no objection to using the word “Taiwan”. There is little doubt that America will welcome a correction to the title of our representative office.

Mr. Chen, based on the above reasons, I ask you to adopt the name, the “Taiwan Representative Office”. And the time for action is now.

Sincerely yours,

Signature: __________________________ Name (Print): _________________________

Address: _______________________________________________________________

Telephone: _____________________________________________________________

Cc: Chen Shui-bian, President
　　Eugene Y.H. Chien, Minister of Foreign Affairs

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