賴弘典 | Hong Tien Lai

中文 | English

Passport to Taiwan

住在大紐約地區台美人社群的台灣人，近二十多年來，大概都曾經歷過每年兩次的台灣人社區大活動；即（1）五月間在Union Square舉辦的 「Passport to Taiwan」，以及（2）九月的「台灣加入聯合國運動」或「UN for Taiwan」 (Keep Taiwan Free) 街頭大遊行。 這兩項活動，性質並不相同；「Passport to Taiwan」 是純粹為介紹台灣文化為目的，而「UN for Taiwan」 (Keep Taiwan Free) 則是為爭取台灣在國際社會上的被認同而走上街頭的政治運動，雖然表面上目的不同，其實兩則卻係出同源。

故事必須回到1992年的夏天，回台打拼，剛選上立委的蔡同榮教授暑期回紐約探親時，召集了昔日同伴，遊說大家，為了突破當時國民黨政府的鎖國政策，來推動以「台灣」的名義加入聯合國。 為此，大紐約地區近十個台灣人社團，在「大紐約區台灣人社團聯合會」（Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York Inc. TAC/GNY) 的召集下，成立「台灣加入聯合國行動委員會」(Committe for Admission of Taiwan to the United Nations, CATUN )，開始籌劃，並決定在1993年九月的第二個星期二，即每年聯合國會議的開幕日，開始舉行街頭活動。 那個年代，國際社會上提到「台灣」這個名字，幾乎沒有人聽過。 剛開始的幾年，連在警察局申請遊行許可，都需要一段令人氣餒的解說，在街頭上也常常被問Taiwan ? Thailand ? 在這種困擾下，如何提高「台灣」的能見度，也變成活動主要目標之一。 我們雖然想出一些花樣，如花車遊行，聖火長跑，等來吸引國際社會的注意，可是效果非常有限。 後來，適逢Clinton 總統再次發表 proclamation 定調每年五月為 American Asian Heritage month，才開始另以文化活動來提高台灣的能見度的發想，開始籌劃並訂五月的一個周末為「台灣傳統日」，在Union Square舉行文化活動加「台灣小吃」。 兩年後的2002年，才正式定名為「Passport to Taiwan」。 從此每年五月有Passport to Taiwan, 九月間仍然繼續「UN For Taiwan」 （約十年前加上口號 Keep Taiwan Free)的遊行活動。 大紐約台灣同鄉會的歷屆會長也把Passport to Taiwan 列為同鄉會的主要活動之一，促進了此後每年五月，在紐約Union Square 萬人朝聖的台灣人節慶。

賴弘典 （社團聯合會召集人）
六月 2025

中文 | English

Passport to Taiwan

For the past twenty some years, Taiwanese living in the Taiwanese American community in the Greater New York area have probably experienced two major Taiwanese events each year: (1) the Passport to Taiwan event held in Union Square in May, and (2) the movement of UN membership for Taiwan or UN for Taiwan (Keep Taiwan Free) street parade in September. These two events are different in nature; Passport to Taiwan is purely for the purpose of introducing Taiwanese culture, while UN for Taiwan (Keep Taiwan Free) is a political movement that takes to the streets to gain recognition for Taiwan in the International community. Although the goals are different on the surface, the two events actually have the same origin.

The story must go back to the summer of 1992. When Professor Trong Tsai, one of the leader of “Oversea Taiwan Independent movement”, returned to Taiwan and got elected as a legislator. He returned to New York to visit his family during the break, in this time, Professor Tsai gathered his former companions and lobbied everyone to start the movement to promote UN membership for Taiwan. The goal was to break the isolation policy of the then Kuomintang government. As a result, there were ten Taiwanese organizations (Associations) in the Greater New York area gathered, called by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York Inc. (TAC/GNY) to establish the Committee for Admission of Taiwan to the United Nations (CATUN) and began planning, and decided to start holding street activities on the second Tuesday of September 1993, which is the opening day of the annual United Nations Assembly meeting. At that time, when the name of “Taiwan” was mentioned, almost no one had heard of it, even applying for a parade permit at the police station required a frustrating explanation, and people were often confused on the street. “Taiwan? Thailand?” They asked. Under such circumstance, “how to increase the visibility of Taiwan” became one of the main goals of the movement. For the first few years, we came up with some ideas to increase visibility, such as float parades and torch running, but the effect was very limited. Later, when President Clinton made May as American Asian Heritage month, the idea of ​​using cultural activities to increase Taiwan’s visibility began. So a weekend in May was planned and designated as Taiwan Heritage Day, with cultural activities and Taiwanese food, was held in Union Square. Two years later, in 2002, the festival was named Passport to Taiwan .Since then, there has been a Passport to Taiwan every May, and the UN For Taiwan (with the slogan of Keep Taiwan Free” added about ten years ago) parade continued in September. The successive presidents of the Taiwanese American Association of Greater New York have listed Passport to Taiwan as one of the main activities of the association, whichis one of the main driving forces to make this event so successful. Passport to Taiwan has enhanced the visibility of Taiwan, and also attracts tens of thousands people to make a pilgrimage to Union Square New York in May for the Taiwanese festival every year.

Dr Hong Tien Lai (Coordinator, TAC/GNY)
June, 2025