Taiwan intends to rebrand its passport and it is holding a design contest to let the public vote for a new passport cover.

Emphasising Taiwan over China

Organised by the left-wing New Power Party (NPP), a political party that advocates for Taiwan's independence, the new passport cover will de-emphasise or eliminate any mention of China.

This was after the island's Legislative Yuan passed a resolution on Jul. 22 to highlight Taiwan over China on the passport and improve Taiwan's "recognisability", according to Taiwan News.

The change was prompted by problematic associations of Taiwan with China during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as when foreigners confused Taiwan citizens and the island's Covid-19 aid for other countries, with those of mainland China, Wall Street Journal reported.

Currently, Taiwan's dark green passport cover features the words "Republic of China" in Mandarin and English, before the name of the island appears below only in English.

Varied designs

The design contest has since attracted hundreds of submissions, with 127 displayed on the NPP website.

The designs range from professional to quirky, with variations of the island's map, and recurring symbols including butterflies, birds like the Emperor's pheasant and Taiwan blue magpie (the national bird), plum blossoms (the national flower), and signature Taiwanese food.

Here are some of the submissions.

Members of the public can head to the website to vote for their favourite designs till the end of August.

As of the time of writing, the three designs below appear to be the frontrunners.

According to Quartz, the winner of the contest will receive NT$30,000 (S$1,400).

Quartz also reported that the design will not necessarily be used in official documents, and that the contest is meant to kindle public dialogue on Taiwan's national identity.

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Top photo from Taiwanpassport.tw