Over the past year, the TFCC Steering Committee has worked diligently to incorporate the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club as a legal national association (全國性社會團體). We’re pleased to share that the Ministry of the Interior has officially approved our application.
On April 9th, the signatories of the original application held the official preparatory meeting, during which we approved the draft of the club charter and set the date for this year’s annual general meeting—which will also serve as the founding meeting of the newly formed legal entity.
Thank you for your support over the past year. We kindly urge you to read this email carefully and attend the AGM. Details below:
General Meeting Date:
Thurs, April 24th, 7:00 PM
Location: Woolloomooloo (110台灣台北市信義區信義路四段379號)
Draft Charter & Membership Rights
The draft of the new TFCC charter has been sent to members via email. Certain changes were necessary to comply with Taiwanese legal requirements, reinforce the club’s governance framework, and safeguard its long-term integrity and independence.
One key adjustment relates to voting rights:
Originally, associate members were eligible to vote for and serve as Activities Chair and Membership Chair. However, after consulting both our legal counsel and the Ministry of the Interior, we were informed that Taiwanese law does not permit assigning different voting rights to different board positions. In effect, this means that if associate members retain any voting rights, all board positions (incl. the presidency) must be opened to associate members.
To protect the TFCC from potential influence by outside interests and to ensure that the club’s core values and operations will ultimately be decided by correspondents, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to restrict voting rights to correspondent members only.
This decision was not taken lightly. In recognition of the long-standing contributions of many associate members, we are introducing a new “honorary membership” category. Honorary members will be granted full voting rights and may be appointed by a unanimous vote of the board, with appointments reviewed every two years.
In addition, according to the relevant laws and regulations, members will only be voting on board members, not individual positions. The newly elected board will then elect a chair from its ranks.
Furthermore, the law states that at the association’s first general meeting, the preparatory committee must present a list of board candidates. Members may also nominate candidates by emailing info@taiwanfcc.org. Any individual nominated by at least two members will be included on the ballot at the AGM.
We kindly ask that you review the attached charter and welcome your feedback during the general meeting.
The 2024 work and financial reports will be circulated in the coming days.
Action Required: Member Information Submission & RSVP
To prepare for the AGM and finalize our legal registration, we ask that all members:
- RSVP for the AGM
- Submit your membership information for the official registry, as required by law.
Both steps can be completed via this form: https://forms.gle/d7By93c6L8w1MLz38
To complete your registration as a legal member of the association, we require the following details:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Contact address in Taiwan
- Phone number
In addition, you will need to submit a written membership application. You may either print and return the membership application form in advance, or simply complete and sign a copy at the AGM — we will provide printed forms on-site for your convenience.
This is a mandatory step for legal membership under the new structure. Your cooperation is deeply appreciated and will help ensure a smooth transition into our new legal framework.
If you are unable to attend in person, you may assign another member to vote on your behalf by completing a Proxy Authorization Letter. For the proxy to be valid, you must first submit your membership information via the form:
Please note: The information collected here will be used exclusively for the purpose of registering TFCC’s legal membership with the Ministry of the Interior. It will not be shared with any third parties, or used for any other purpose.
Please find the official event notice in Chinese submitted to the Ministry of the Interior below:
Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via info@taiwanfcc.org