Taiwan has plans to strengthen the penalty on the forgery of Taiwanese passports.
During an interview with RTI on Thursday, foreign ministry official Kung Chung-chen explained the new penalty for forgery and for buying and selling forged passports.
"If you are found guilty, you will serve a five to seven year prison term, whereas before you did not have to go to jail," Kung said. "In the past you could just pay a fine but now you have to at least spend one year in prison. So the effect is very serious. It can affect your whole life."
The new regulation will go into effect on January 1, 2016.
Taiwanese passports have become more valuable in recent years. This month the number of countries granting Taiwanese nationals visa-free entry or visas on arrival reached 148. During the interview, Kung called on citizens to report lost passports within 24 hours.