Taiwanese in Denmark hope new Cabinet resolves designation issue

Stockholm, Sweden, March 24 (CNA) Taiwanese citizens based in Denmark are hoping that the new Cabinet emerging from Tuesday's parliamentary elections will deal with their objection to having Taiwan called "China" on their residence permits.

One of them, Wang Yu-hsin (王宥芯), told CNA on Tuesday that despite their efforts to request the Danish government to correct the designation, nothing has happened.

Since 2024, Wang said, she and other Taiwanese in Denmark have submitted petitions to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) to request a change.

• Taiwan urges Denmark to correct designation or face consequences

In 2024 alone, she said, she visited the agency in person three times to make the same request, to no avail.

"I am so disappointed," Wang said. "But, I hope a new Cabinet after the vote will be a turning point and make a change."

In Tuesday's vote, incumbent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats won the most seats but fell far short of a majority, which could lead to lengthy negotiations to put together a coalition government.

It was not clear if any governing coalition that could emerge would be willing to make such a change.

Taiwan and its citizens frown on describing Taiwan as "China," "Taiwan, China," or any similar designation because it implies that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which has never been the case.

According to Statistics Denmark, a total of 276 Taiwanese citizens were in the country at the end of last year.

Taiwan's representative to Denmark, Robin Cheng (鄭榮俊), told CNA that his office has repeatedly asked the Danish government to correct the designation since 2024, including by going through Danish parliamentarians, but without success.

"No matter what the election outcome is, the representative office will continue to request the Danish government to correct the mistake," Cheng said on Tuesday. Any change in the policy would be up to the foreign minister of the newly formed Cabinet.

Wang said the incorrect designation has made it difficult to travel at times, as the designation on her residence permit was not the same as on her passport, which shows the names "Republic of China" (the country's official name) and "Taiwan."

"I felt nervous when I stood at immigration due to the different designations in the residence permit and my passport," Wang said. "That totally stressed me out."

A report posted by Danish-language newspaper Berlingsk on March 20 echoed Wang's difficulties.

In the report, Yeh Tung-han (葉東翰), another Taiwanese citizen in Denmark, said he has also petitioned SIRI for a change in the designation on his residence permit, but SIRI responded with a letter early this year and suggested he show the letter to immigration when traveling.

In the letter, SIRI said the agency understood the nationality in Yeh's passport is Taiwan, "but based on Denmark's diplomatic policy, the agency cannot write the nationality on the residence permit as Taiwan. So, the nationality on your residence permit is China."

Yeh said he was stunned by the letter as Denmark, a democratic country, sided with China's "one China principle" instead of the "one China policy" embraced by other democracies in the west.

MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuangwei (蕭光偉) said in Taipei on Tuesday that if the Danish government continued to ignore Taiwan's request due to pressure from the PRC, Taipei would launch retaliatory measures, but he did not disclose what those measures would entail.