Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/11/2020
By: Stacy Hsu and Frances Huang

Washington, Jan. 10 (CNA) Several U.S. congressmen have urged the World Bank to explain its hiring policy, which has been described as unfair to Taiwanese employees, as it requires them to hold Chinese passports if they want to keep their jobs, although the requirement has never been adopted.

Republican Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Menendez, along with House Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Friday wrote a joint letter to World Bank Group (WBG) President David Malpass for an explanation on its policy regarding Taiwanese staff.

In December, U.S.-based news website Axios revealed that World Bank human resources staffers told Taiwanese nationals that they can only be hired by the institution if they hold identification documents issued by the People's Republic of China rather than the Republic of China (Taiwan).

While the World Bank revised its hiring policy regarding Taiwanese employees in the wake of the Axios report, the four U.S. congressmen still asked for answers from the bank on the matter.
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