Like similar offspring of cross-cultural couples, Li-li faced the choice of relinquishing her American citizenship to become an ROC national or maintaining foreigner status but having to obtain the Alien Resident Certificate each year. She opted for the latter, meaning that over the past two decades she has had to make a flight out of Taiwan every six months upon the expiration of her residence permit. After obtaining validation of her documents overseas, she could return to live on the island for another six months before having to repeat the tiring and costly process. "Often I took the first morning flight to Hong Kong and turned right around to return to Taiwan the same afternoon. I felt like I was a migratory bird," said Li-li, who did not want to reveal her surname.

Many other frequent flier offspring with non-ROC fathers have had to endure the same roundabout routine. And for some of them, the identity problem was even more serious. In certain divorce situations, children of foreign fathers and ROC mothers became stateless in Taiwan if they did not declare a nationality by the time their parents' marriages were dissolved.

But such discriminatory practices have now become part of Taiwan's past. Under recently implemented revisions to the nationality law, ROC citizenship can be obtained by children of cross-cultural couples in which the husband is a foreigner.

With the ROC's enthusiastic presidential election recently concluded, the fact comes to mind that the new law even makes it possible for a future president of the nation to be the offspring of a non-ROC father.

After nearly a decade of legislative effort, the revised law, which became effective in February, recognizes both the father's and mother's nationality as a basis for the children gaining ROC citizenship. During the 71 years since the original regulations were promulgated in 1929, a child was denied ROC citizenship if his or her father was a non-ROC national even if the mother held ROC citizenship.

The revisions also enable foreign spouses of ROC citizens to apply for naturalization. To be eligible for ROC citizenship, the spouses need to have lived in Taiwan for at least 183 days in each of the past three years. Wang Jui-ko is a Taiwanese American who faced difficulties under the old law. He said the identity issue did not bother him seriously until his Taiwanese wife gave birth to their first baby. The young boy remained stateless until he was 5 years old, when his case attracted support from the Pearl S. Buck Foundation and the American Institute in Taiwan, leading to his naturalization as an ROC citizen.

"My family was like a seed carried on the wind," Wang said. "We were unable to control our own fate." Before the implementation of the new law, cross-cultural offspring existed in a state of limbo. They could acquire Alien Resident Certificates by way of the relationship with their mothers, enabling them to stay in Taiwan legally. However, after reaching the age of 20, they were required to provide valid reasons for renewal of the ARCs each time the permits expired. Moreover, being without ROC citizenship, these children were not entitled into attend Taiwan's public schools.

Government statistics indicate that through 1999 there were 16,537 foreign spouses of ROC nationals in Taiwan. Among these spouses, 2,009 were males.

Starting in 1993, groups of cross- cultural couples occasionally held demonstrations at the Legislative Yuan building to express frustration on how the outdated regulations were barring their children from citizenship. Eventually, they gained the support of legislators, who agreed that the regulations were obsolete in this age of the multicultural global village.

As measures to accommodate cross-cultural couples were being adopted one by one in other Asian countries, it became all the more evident that the ROC regulations were way behind the times. The internationalization trend added leverage to the push for new legislation in Taiwan.

"The revisions are a big step forward in Taiwan's population policies and they represent progress toward equality of the sexes," said Sandy Taylor, Taiwan director for the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, which is a leader in the drive to help stateless children.

Local media described the law as an inevitable step in the protection of human rights.

The Ministry of the Interior said the revisions apply to cross-cultural offspring who had not reached their 20th birthday as of Feb. 9, the promulgation date of the new law.

But along with the right to acquire ROC nationality comes the responsibility to fulfill the duties of a citizen. For instance, the male offspring will be required to satisfy compulsory military service, the MOI noted. Any young male granted citizenship under this legislation who wishes to avoid military conscription must apply to relinquish the ROC citizenship of himself as well as his parent before he reaches 15 years of age.

In another area, the revised law does not lift the restriction on dual nationality for ROC civil servants. However, it does include provisions which slightly ease the regulations on academics and experts in technical fields who wish to maintain duality.

Analysts view these provisions as a pragmatic step. They said the eased rules on academics and technical experts will make it easier to persuade Taiwan talents who are working overseas to return home to dedicate their specialized knowledge toward the betterment of local society.