(China Post/ANN) - The Cabinet announced last year a new design of the electronic identification card (eID) to be released in October 2020. According to Chen Mei-lin (陳美伶), minister of the National Development Council (NDC), the new design will only display the card holder’s name, ID, and photo while information regarding his or her spouse and the national flag won’t be printed.
In response to media inquiries, Minister of Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), said that the decision is still under consideration and further consultations will be made to reflect public opinion.
According to several media reports, Chen said that the planning of the new eID is still underway by the Ministry of the Interior in response to legislator Xu Yong-ming’s (徐永明) questions on March 18.
As for whether information about the cardholder’s gender will be concealed, Chen said it’s still being assessed. Media reported that number “1” could be used for male, “2” for female” and “7” for transgender people while numbers “8” and “9” will be for holders of an Alien Resident Certificate.
Hsu also responded to critics of concealing the national flag of the Republic of China, stressing that several ID versions under the presidencies of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo didn’t display the national flag either.
“Everything is still under discussion. There is enough time before the renewal and we will seek opinions from the public,” said Hsu.
