Gov't thanks Japan for allowing nationals to choose 'Taiwan' in family registry

Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) The Taiwan government on Monday thanked Japan for allowing Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as "Taiwan" in the official family record database.

Previously, individuals had to select "China."

Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now "correctly" identify Taiwanese people in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a press statement.

The MOFA statement was released after Japanese media organization Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier Monday.

An English-language Nikkei report explained that under the current framework, the name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the spouse's family registry.

The report added that the existing rule listing Taiwanese individuals as being from China has been in place since 1964.

Starting in May, the ministry will broaden the registry's nationality entry for non-Japanese to "nationality/region," allowing Taiwanese to choose Taiwan over China.

The report said that a Taiwanese person who is already registered as being from China will also be able to change their nationality to Taiwan.

Taiwan government statistics show that about 800 to 1,000 Taiwanese people marry a Japanese national every year.

According to MOFA, Taiwanese expats in Japan have been calling for a change to the registration system for decades.

Thanks to their decades-long efforts and the support of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, a cross-party group in the Japanese Diet dedicated to promoting ties between Taipei and Tokyo, the Japanese government finally agreed to the change, MOFA said.

According to MOFA, the last time Japan made a similar change to allow Taiwanese living in Japan to list their nationality as Taiwan was in 2012 on residence cards issued to foreigners living in the country long term.